Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim must have had his head in his hands once he saw the manner in which his team conceded the opening goal against Ipswich Town on Wednesday.
Patrick Dorgu had the ball and was aware Jaden Philogene was closing in on him so he decided the safest course of action was to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper.
What Andre Onana did was flabbergasting. He rushed off his line and closed the space and ultimately the back pass went beyond him which allowed the Ipswich attacker to score the easiest goal he will ever score in his career.
The Danish wingback is just a kid, who has only recently joined the club yet the Cameroonian put him under unnecessary pressure and being the senior pro, he should have communicated a lot better in that situation.
Onana’s mistakes continue to mount
Even Ipswich’s second of the night came from yet another Onana error. He was anticipating contact inside the box and allowed Philogene’s innocuous cross to go past him into the back of the net.
Amorim was rightly asked about his No 1’s dismal form in this calendar year and he refused to blame the ex-Ajax star.
“For sure some difficult moments. He did some great saves that saved our team and sometimes he has some problems but that is normal. And if you look for our team you can find a lot of players with that issue.”
Club chiefs are concerned with the 28-year-old’s form and former United keeper Ben Foster suggested replacing David de Gea with Onana was one of the biggest transfer mistakes in Premier League history.
When asked whether it was the biggest mistake in league history, Foster said on The Cycling GK podcast, “With regards to goalkeeping especially, that’s right at the top of it.”
He then proceeded to pick apart Onana’s mistakes in Ipswich’s first goal. “When Patrick Dorgu is running back to his goal with Philogene next to him, he’s aware that Philogene is there but can only really see Onana.
“Onana can see the whole picture. Onana is the guy that should be in control of that whole situation, he’s the one that should be vocal, should be pointing, should be trying to make eye contact with Dorgu.
‘Huge mistake to replace DDG with Onana’
“He’s done none of that, all he’s done is close the space and as soon as you do that you’re asking for trouble and as it played out, it was an absolute disaster.
“Onana should have tried to make eye contact with Dorgu as he’s running down to him, making arm gestures, telling him what to do. But back off, keep that space and Dorgu would have known to just roll the ball to the side to Onana, who could have played a nice little pass to the right back.”
Former boss Erik ten Hag was the one who sanctioned the Cameroon international’s arrival from Inter Milan for £47.2 million after the Dutchman decided David de Gea was no longer good enough.
However, ever since the African star’s arrival, he has consistently churned out errors and the United backline looks shaky because of his presence.
Whether Amorim gets to change his keeper in the summer remains to be seen but he has already identified the likes of Diogo Costa and Gregor Kobel as potential replacements.
Feature image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
