Ruben Amorim has urged Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana to ‘forget about the past’ ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup clash against Fulham.
The United star has made a number of mistakes this term, including in the 3-2 Premier League victory over Ipswich at Old Trafford last time out.
Ipswich’s Jaden Philogene capitalised on his mix up with United teammate Patrick Dorgu and then beat him with a cross to mark Onana’s latest error.
Onana also made a goalkeeping blunder in United’s 3-1 home defeat to Brighton in January, inexplicably pushing a tame cross into the path of Georginio Rutter, to allow the Frenchman to score his team’s third goal.
Amorim, though, wants Onana to put those mistakes behind him as United prepare to host Fulham in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Sunday.
Get personalised updates on your club every day
Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro’s Football Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link so we can send you football news tailored to you.
‘There were some difficult moments,’ the United head coach said about Onana. ‘This season he did some great saves that save our team [but] then sometimes has some problems.
‘But that is normal and I think if you look through our team you can find a lot of players with that issue, so I think we are not performing so well as a team and sometimes some players have problems.
‘People talk a lot about the second goal from Ipswich. He is waiting for the touch of [Liam] Delap. I think that is really clear, and then the ball continues to the goal, so that can happen.
‘We just have to support Andre, like we support all the players, and prepare the next game. Forget about the past and prepare the future.’
Onana was dubbed ‘one of the biggest transfer mistakes in Premier League history’ by former Red Devils goalkeeper Ben Foster this week.
United signed Onana from Inter Milan as a long-term replacement for David de Gea for £47.2m in the summer of 2023, shortly after his standout display in the Champions League final defeat to Manchester City.
‘Bringing [Onana] in to replace De Gea was one of the most fundamental and probably one of the biggest mistakes you’ve seen in Premier League history,’ Foster said.
Former United striker Louis Saha, meanwhile, called out Onana for his ‘unacceptable’ form after his error against Brighton two months ago.
‘Unless you can guarantee that you’re not going to make mistakes, you should not be considered as a guaranteed starter in any position,’ Saha said.
‘None of those players should be guaranteed anything. If you don’t have a confident goalkeeper he has to be challenged. Those performances are unacceptable, it’s not normal!’