Amidst the chaos in the celebrations of Manchester United’s 3-0 victory over West Ham United, club legend Dwight Yorke has singled out one unsung hero of the match.
The treble-winner gave credit where it’s due to Andre Onana, who has endured an incredibly tumultuous start to life at Old Trafford since he made the switch from Inter Milan last summer.
You’d be forgiven for questioning the goalkeeper’s suitability for the No.1 role given his catalogue of costly errors and the fact he’s conceded 50 goals in 32 appearances across all competitions thus far, however, he’s retained the trust of Erik ten Hag throughout.
Onana has missed just one game for United this term and it only came due to his Africa Cup of Nations commitments, which saw him miss the fourth-round FA Cup win over Newport County. Upon his return, second-choice Altay Bayindir dropped straight back to the bench.
The £47 million signing did put in a spirited shift against the Irons, though, and even claimed his seventh Premier League clean sheet. Onana produced several crucial stops to deny West Ham’s prolific attackers in the clash, including one from a corner when the scoreline was tied at 0-0 in the opening 20 minutes.
Yorke voices deserved praise for Onana
Reacting to the Cameroonian’s performance on Premier League Productions, Yorke said: “He has been criticised at times, but you expect your goalkeeper to make important saves in the crucial time of the game as well.
“I think this is a great reflex save. He is showing a good and strong left hand. He will be really pleased with that because Man United tend to concede quite a lot of goals from set-pieces and this was a possible one, but the goalkeeper did fantastically well.”
