Andre Onana’s performances are improving after a rocky start to life at Manchester United. Peter Schmeichel has explained the advice he gave the Cameroon international following the mistakes he initially made at the club.
It was decided last summer that Onana was the goalkeeper to replace David de Gea. These were big shoes to fill, but Erik ten Hag wanted his former Ajax stopper after watching him contribute to Inter Milan’s impressive run to the Champions League final last season – only to be beaten by Man City.
Onana was one of the best goalkeepers in Europe in 2022/23, which is why I have always believed that he would turn things around at United, even after some of his worst mistakes yet.
The Cameroonian made several high-profile mistakes in his first few months as a United playing, including against Bayern Munich and Galatasaray in the Champions League.
With Onana now performing at a higher standard, Schmeichel has revealed what he told him while struggling to find form at his new club.
“I said to him, playing for this football club requires something. I’ve seen you at Inter, I know you have it,” Schmeichel said on the Upfront with Simon Jordan podcast. “So don’t take anything you will read in the next couple of days for anything other than it’s what happens.
“The art of being a goalkeeper for Man United is you do mistakes, and we all do, everyone who has ever been in goal for United has made a mistake, the art is that the next second it’s forgotten about.
“You take it and put it away and move on to the next moment. If you don’t, you will make a mistake in the next moment.
“So I said this to him and then after the game when you go to sleep or night, play it through your mind again.
“Think about where were you, how was your balance, all of these things and if you have an opportunity to take it into the training session the next day, try to replicate and see if there’s another way of doing it or a different solution.
“That’s what I said to him and the next game was at Galatasaray and we lost that game, I went up to him after and he was stood there I went over and spoke to half an hour and I said the same thing.
“He was at this point, he’s so insecure because he’s now feeling what United is. It’s that pressure down on your shoulders and it’s difficult to get up from that. I said just relax about it.
“Think about where you are, think about what you’re doing but you have to forget when you concede a goal straight away.
“You can not take it into the next moment and I can see in one of the goals you conceded today, you did bring it, you did something immediately after that is not in your game.
“You can’t do that. You have to stay strong.”
The biggest problem for Onana is the chopping and changing of defenders. From one week to the next, he doesn’t have an idea who will be playing in front of him.
There have been some promising signs at least and he performed strongly against City, despite conceding three goals in a 3-1 defeat.
Critics will argue Onana should have done better for Phil Foden’s second goal, though.
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