Manchester United Thread 25/26 - Teamtalk/Transfers/Gossip Mod Note in OP 26.09.24

The more the season goes on the more I'm convinced that Utd will get the most improvement out of the team by bringing in a new first team striker and a new first team keeper next summer.

I've lost patience with Onana at this stage. He makes far too many mistakes but more worrying is they are repeating mistakes. I can't for the life of me understand why or how he gets caught so often hanging on his line with a player running through on goal.

It's like he's never been thought the idea of closing the angle or closing down a player to increase pressure. He just let's them have a free pop and hopes he'll get to it.

He makes too many fundamental keeping errors. There's no hope he eventually gets to the level we need.

And we don't make any use of his supposed on the ball ability.

You can't rely on him long term. Just can't.

Need to plug holes at both ends of the pitch

Driving to Manchester on match day for the first time. Anyone have any advice on where to park?

I have read that MediaCity is a good car park to use.

Any tips appreciated.

I actually thought it was another case of him being planted to his line for that goal, he's further out than I thought.

A genuine question, where should he be in that still? Ideally on the 6 yard line probably?

I'm no expert but Elanga has the option to pass to his teammate, if Onana was more advanced (to narrow the angle of Elanga's shot) then he would have been caught out of position if Elanga passed (which he may have done if he spotted Onana too advanced).

I'm no fan of Onana but that still image isn't horrendous positioning imo. He has narrowed down the angle somewhat while also being able to cover a potential pass. There's probably loads more examples of worse positioning from him.

The reason he looks better on the right is because he can't cut in on his right and takes a bit of the wide eyes away when he gets to a shooting position. Forces him to be more a team player.

Ronaldo was called every name under the sun at the same age and was seen as a show pony. Garnacho has some good control and inventiveness at times and I think they are intangibles that are hard to teach. If he bulks up he could be a direct forward with a lot of potential but he doesn't seem like he's exactly going hard in that direction.

He should be forward on his toes and focused on the ball. Gibbs-White isn't going to be a goalscorer while Elanga has the ball. So in a general sense just ignore him. MGW was a cute hoor mind and angled and timed his movement perfectly to stop Mazraoui from commiting to closing Elanga.

At that stage If Elanga did slip the ball past Maz to MGW then Onana should be forward enough, and on his toes ready to then 100% commit to charging forward at MGW while the ball is going sideways.

Assuming Dorgu is dropping back onto the goal line while Maz should be preventing a return back to Elanga. Or sliding behind Onana as another blocker depending on how wide MGW ended up.

Its even longer since I did any intense GK training and I remember as a kid in the early 90s going to the Gerry Peyton School of Goalkeeping camp and everything you've mentioned in that post were the basics being taught at time. Footwork, positioning, anticipation. I also used to have an excellent book The Art of Goalkeeping by Gordon Banks Bob Wilson which had very detailed and mathematical diagrams regarding covering angles. Also had a fantastic chapter about concentration

Edit: It wasnt Gordon Banks but Bob Wilson

Ya, reading @blackwhite's excellent analysis has changed my mind. I was basing it on the still from behind the goal and I thought he was close enough to the 6 yard box from that. But from looking at the still BW posted and the watching the replay again, he was miles off being out far enough.

My original post wasn't meant to be a defence of Onana, he's not good enough.

Not sure who mentioned his feet being too wide apart or the jump he does but some other excellent spots. He really doesn't get any push off from his feet to help him get to the corners. It's almost comical the way he doesn't achieve any real spring to one side in his dive.

It’s genuinely interesting to get some insights into what he should be doing. To repeat what I said before though, I don’t think his positioning is criminal at all like. Maybe people are using positioning, footwork, diving & more interchangeably.

Found this from the City Brighton game a couple of weeks ago. Not exact match, no passing option and a little bit closer to goal, but close enough. Ederson is in a very similar position but a yard closer I’d say which you’ve said would be better. Probably has better support from defenders but seems splayed after a mini bounce too. He’s just way better at getting down quickly enough compared to Onana’s effort (Shot went wide though) which probably shows the bigger issue.

No wonder you like him if you’re a not a United fan!

He had a good start to the season this year but the errors crept back in, compounding some of the faith lost in him last year.

Put it this way, I say there’s a fair few who would be willing to swap him with Kelleher.

Way better at getting down or just a better application of the basics. Either way I think most will agree that although Onana may be a good keeper, and he has to be as you don't get to the level he's at by being totally rubbish, but I don't think he is a top keeper or that he should be #1 at United based on his form