Andre Onanas Man Utd mistakes and technique analysed and what he can do to improve

It was the 26th minute of their match against Brentford when things went from bad to worse for Manchester United’s Andre Onana.

After emerging as one of Europe’s top goalkeepers during his time at Inter Milan, Onana’s nightmare start to the season continued when he allowed a savable shot from Mathias Jensen to sneak by to open the scoring.

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The error against Brentford was the second mistake Onana’s made in as many matches — the first coming in United’s 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray last Tuesday — and the latest example of a goalkeeper who appears to be struggling from a crisis of confidence.

His form is in stark contrast to what we saw in the Champions League final for Inter just a few months ago.

Last season, Onana only conceded 36 goals in 41 games, keeping eight clean sheets in Inter’s 13-match Champions League run. In the competition, he only conceded 10 goals from shots that came with an expected goal tally of 17.8; the 7.8 goals he effectively prevented was the highest total in the competition.

Though Onana’s start to the season has not been great, the reality is neither has United’s. They have conceded 12 goals after eight league games (only seven teams have a worse defensive record), sit mid-table with 12 points, and look like a team who don’t have a clear identity of how they want to defend. Onana is hardly the only player at fault.

But the question is: why haven’t things clicked as of yet, and where has it gone wrong?

The problems started in the opening fixture against Wolves when, deep into added time, Onana jumped through the air in an attempt to block a header, taking out Sasa Kalajdzic with both arms. Luckily for Onana, referee Simon Hooper ignored claims for a penalty. Though Onana escaped punishment, that moment of hesitation at a crucial moment set the tone for what was to come.

Then against Bayern Munich at the end of September, Onana let a soft Leroy Sane shot squirm past his body. It was an attempt that a goalkeeper of his calibre unquestionably should have saved — and one he’s made look routine throughout most of his career.

Questions were once again being asked in their second Champions League group stage match against Galatasaray last week, when Onana’s pass was easily cut out by Dries Mertens, who raced into the United box before Casemiro came sliding in from behind and was sent off as a result, giving away a penalty.

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Despite Mauro Icardi dragging his penalty wide, he later chipped Onana — who went to ground early — to net the winner. It was the second time this season (the first coming against Nottingham Forest) that he went down to the ground prematurely and too easily exposed his goal in the process.

In isolation, each mistake wouldn’t particularly stand out — one error in judgment can happen and even the world’s best goalkeepers make mistakes. But the fact there have been so many in quick succession shows a dangerous trend and naturally leads to questions being asked.

It’s unquestionable that there is a psychological aspect at play here, but could there also be an underlying technical flaw?

The answer to that question is one that Ajax’s sporting science and analytics department tried to solve while Onana was at Ajax. Initially, they looked at his technique when it came to diving, realised it was unorthodox and wanted to change it, but Onana was adamant that he could get to the ball quicker using his technique.

Rather than standing more upright and with his legs roughly shoulder width apart, Onana’s base was slightly wider than normal, both with his feet and his arms. The wider base gave him more power and stability when attacking the ball and, when reaction time was limited, he was able to dig his feet into the ground and shoot his hands down to the ball to make the save. The technique in itself requires precise timing and a great amount of strength to execute correctly.

Here is a screenshot of Onana in his set position with both his arms and legs wide…

… and here is Nick Pope (while playing for Burnley) for comparison, who likes to stay a bit more upright and narrow with both his arms and legs.

When done well, it can result in the goalkeeper quickly shooting their limbs down to the ball to make the save — but when executed incorrectly, it can often make the goalkeeper look horribly silly.

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The sporting science department was about to tell Onana that he was doing it wrong and change his technique, but they decided to wire him up to see if it was the case. They actually found that he was the one who was right.

With his style, he could get down quicker to the ball (especially in tight and close-contact situations when a goalkeeper’s reaction time is limited) than the technique they were teaching in their academy. When implementing his technique with the other goalkeepers in the academy, the results were almost immediate: they all became faster at reacting to the ball.

At his very best, Onana executes his technique incredibly well, leading to some brilliant saves. However, this season, holes have started to appear as he’s not been using that technique to the best of his ability, and has instead resorted to more inefficient means to try to make saves.

The two most noticeable examples of this are the attempted save against Jensen at the weekend and the shot from distance he conceded against Sane.

Against Brentford, as the ball was bouncing around his box, Onana initially did a good job to manoeuvre himself from side to side to mirror the play in front of him.

But as the ball fell to Jensen, rather than adjust himself one more time with a quick hop to his right, Onana instead hopped once more to his left, resulting in him being positioned too far toward his near post.

As the ball flew off Jensen’s foot, Onana launched himself in the direction of the ball but got his timing all wrong. The ball wasn’t hit as purely as Onana probably expected and, in addition to being out of position, he got punished for diving too early…

You can see in the screenshot below that, even though Onana was fully extended with his right hand, he attempted to make impact with the ball as it crossed the goal line in the middle of his goal.

Ideally, regardless of how well the ball was hit, Onana would have liked to get his feet squared away and in contact with the ground before the shot, allowing him to quickly adjust his footwork and positioning to push himself to the ball.

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Against Jensen, he was never truly set and balanced in the correct position, so was always playing catch-up to the play in front of him; it’s something you never want as a goalkeeper.

This resulted in his timing being off, and he had to resort to a negative step (tucking his lead leg underneath his body in an attempt to get to the ball quickly rather than taking a step to push to the ball) and therefore wasn’t able to get himself to the ball.

Had he been positioned more centrally, the decision of how and when to dive would have been much easier — and he probably would have made the save.

The goal conceded against Bayern was very similar. The difference this time was that he was set and in a comfortable position (nearly in the middle of his goal) but his reactions and decision-making were slow.

But, as seen against Brentford, due to the limited amount of time he had to react, he resorted to a negative step and lacked the necessary power and body shape to keep the ball out.

Notice Onana’s negative step (his left leg rising up) as he attempts to quickly bring his hands to the ball…

… only for the ball to sneak underneath his hands.

Generally speaking, when diving toward the ball to make a save, the goalkeeper first needs to dig their trailing foot into the ground (think of it like the springboard for the dive) before taking their step with the lead foot in order to push themselves in the direction of the ball to make the save. The problem with the negative step is you are required to drop your lead foot out of the way and shoot down toward the ball without ever getting a true push.

If executed correctly, the negative step can be a big asset to a goalkeeper in moments when the distance between the goalkeeper and striker is small and the reaction time is limited — it allows you to get down to the ball quickly. However, the downside is you will often lack the power that you would normally get if you took a step toward the ball to make the save.

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In order to be pulled off correctly, the goalkeeper must get their timing and impact with the ball correct, while also pushing off with all their might toward the ball to make the save. This can be very hard to do well when you’re struggling for confidence.

Against Brentford and Bayern, Onana got both of these terribly wrong. In each moment, his impact with the ball was poor and he failed to get his hands in the proper positions.

One of the biggest issues for Onana at the moment is that he’s not getting the most out of his biggest strengths as a goalkeeper. The core of his skill set is built on his strength, explosiveness and plyometric ability (his spring/jump) — particularly in regards to his shot-stopping — and at the moment he’s not using that to his advantage. His thought process and actions appear to be clogged.

When Onana signed for United, he was presented as a playmaker in gloves, but there’s much more to him than that. But things have yet to click for United’s new No 1.

Following Onana’s error against Galatasaray last week, Erik ten Hag was quick to back his goalkeeper. He believes that, despite his slow start to the season, Onana can still become “one of the best goalkeepers in the world”.

It’s very possible that Onana will still come good for United, and I am one of those who believe his talent will ultimately win out. But he’s going to have to turn things around sooner rather than later. Making a mistake at another club may go under the radar, but when you play for Manchester United, everything is highly pressurised.

The key for Onana will be to try to do less, not more, and focus on the things that made him good in the first place. Simply, go back to the basics and stop trying to assert himself on the game, but rather let the game come to him.

If he is able to do that, what is happening now will look like a small blip in the long run.

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