The Andre Onana pile on continued on Monday as Ben Foster became the latest ex-Man Utd player to weigh in on the fallen Reds keeper, observing, “he seems to be a little bit too stressed for me.”
News broke early on Sunday that Ruben Amorin had decided to drop United’s number one for the trip to Newcastle, instead starting backup goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.
It soon became apparent why Amorim had been so reluctant to do so, as Bayindir conceded from four of six shots on target and committed a major error in the build-up to Newcastle’s fourth goal during a less than convincing Premier League debut.
The former Man Utd and England goalkeeper was able to sympathise with Onana as he shared his thoughts with talkSPORT.
“You can’t recover that quickly. It’s a horrible place to be, and I’ve been in it so many times throughout my career.
“You’re struggling mentally, and the only thing you can think of is, ‘Don’t make a mistake.’ And it’s the worst way to go into games.
“If you can go into games with big confidence, positivity, knowing that you’re going to help your team out, then you’re on a great setting to start the game.
“But when you’re thinking negatively and pessimistically, it’s a really bad place to be, but I think Onana has been a little bit like that all season, really.
United boss Amorim decided to remove Onana from the firing line entirely at the weekend, leaving him in Manchester as Tom Heaton took his place on the bench.
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The Cameroonian is officially credited with three major errors leading to goals in the Premier League alone this season, though that’s a stat which only considers glaringly obvious mistakes, often failing to take into account factors such as poor positioning, soft saves, and spilled shots.
Foster expanded on what he feels Onana’s biggest problem is.
“I see some of the mistakes that he’s made and some of the saves that he makes, he seems to me like he’s a little bit stressed when it comes to the big moments.
“Whether it’s the big moment of making a save, whether it’s a block or a parry, instead of being really sort of gentle and calm under pressure, he seems to be a little bit too stressed for me.
“So he’s getting real blocky surfaces on things and everything seems to be popping out into that six-yard box, where you look at some of the top goalkeepers in the world and straightaway you think of someone like Emi Martinez or Alisson, or Thibaut Courtois.
“Them goalkeepers, when it comes to the real, big moments, it’s that calmness under pressure, it’s about being focussed but relaxed at the same time, and Onana just doesn’t seem to be able to do that.”
