That’s how confident Andre Onana was in his ability to stop shots during Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Everton at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.
The score may have made it look like Man United had an easy win, but that wasn’t the case because the battling underdogs kept putting shots on the home team’s goal.
Everton had 23 shots, while United only had 15. Erik Ten Hag’s team also had trouble controlling the flow of the game, even though they had a little more possession (51%).
To win in the end, United’s custodian Andre Onana made sure they held on.
Ben Godfrey of Everton got on the end of a cross early in the first half and sent the ball into the goal, only a few meters from the line. Lucky for us, Onana bravely dove forward to grab the ball. Soon after, Abdoulaye Doucouré sent a dangerous cross towards the goal, but the Cameroonian custodian made a crucial save.
When Amadou Onana tried a daring bicycle kick from the edge of the box in the second half, United almost caught him off guard. Thank goodness United’s mascot stayed alert and easily blocked the shot.
There were nine minutes left in the game, and Onana saved United again when Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed a corner kick from just a few meters away.
Onana made a total of six saves, which were very important in keeping United’s clean sheet. In particular, he made two saves from outside the box, which shows how good he is as United’s 11th wide player.
With a total of 60 touches, Onana completed only 29 of the 47 passes he tried, which is a very poor 62% passing accuracy. He hit nine out of 27 long balls, which shows how involved he was in starting United’s counterattacks. Besides that, he did one key pass.
Onana cleared the ball once and was never dribbled past.
Onana’s poor throwing was the only other thing that worried me about his game. He lost the ball 19 times, which was more than anyone else on his team. But it’s possible that the team told the goalie to just clear his lines and play the ball long, which would explain both of these numbers.
Onana had a great game overall, especially when it came to how well he saved the ball.
Looking back at the season, it’s clear that Onana is constantly getting used to life at Old Trafford. He’s getting better at stopping shots and becoming an important, if not central, part of United’s defence.
