When Manchester United host Fulham in the FA Cup on Sunday, Andre Onana is likely to find himself on the Old Trafford bench.
United boss Ruben Amorim has honoured his predecessor Erik ten Hag’s pledge to go with back-up goalkeeper Altay Bayindir in the cup games this season. But after his latest high-profile blunders, United No.1 Onana – who cost £43.8milllion from Inter Milan in 2023 – may start to find himself on the bench more often than he would like.
In United’s laboured 3-2 win over Ipswich, Onana was culpable for both goals conceded, guilty of basic mistakes that made the win more difficult than it needed to be. Those latest gaffes came on the back of mistakes in United’s 2-2 draw at Everton, where Onana was at fault for their second, and in a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham, where he gifted a simple finish to James Maddison.
For the first goal against Ipswich, after a mix-up with team-mate Patrick Dorgu, Onana should have taken control of the situation, given he was the only one who could see the danger unfolding. With Dorgu running back towards his own goal, the young defender was perhaps unaware Ipswich’s Jaden Philogene was breathing down his neck, which is when Onana should have taken over.
Having raced off his line, Onana should have let Dorgu know the ball was his. Instead, confusion ensued, with Dorgu playing the ball beyond him, allowing Philogene to score into an empty net. If Onana was perhaps only partly culpable for that goal, he was entirely at fault for Ipswich’s second, misjudging a routine cross from Philogene and allowing it to sail straight past him and into the net.
Even allowing for the distraction of Ipswich striker Liam Delap moving towards the ball, there was no excuse for Onana to deal with the cross and palm it away to safety, away from the danger area. But Onana’s footwork for the second goal was calamitous, shifting to his right, then left, then repeating that sequence, meaning he was hopelessly out of position as the ball flew past him.
Amorim was diplomatic when asked about Onana’s latest mistakes, choosing not to admonish him and instead focus on the wider issue of culpability blighting his entire team.
“We have to work on that,” said Amorim. “We need to improve, not just Andre, but we have so many problems.
“If you see a lot of our players, in some games they make some mistakes that are important in terms of the result in that game. I don’t want to point at just one player – we need to improve as a team.”
Whether Onana retains Amorim’s long-term faith remains to be seen.
United’s more pressing need to address other areas of the team may mean a new keeper is not considered a priority in the summer. But if Onana continues to make basic mistakes that lead to goals, Bayindir may find he gets a run in the side, when he returns from injury, and a new man between the posts may become an urgent need.
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