Andre Onana was one of four Manchester United players included in WhoScored’s Premier League Team of the Month for November.
The goalkeeper has endured a tough few days following his abysmal performance against Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to conclude Onana single-handedly (albeit, with both hands on occasion) cost his side all three points in the crucial fixture.
A win would have left United second in the group with a strong chance of qualification to the knockout stages.
Instead, a draw leaves them bottom, needing to beat Bayern Munich in their final game while also needing Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen to finish level.
Any other variation of results and United will be eliminated from Europe’s premier tournament.
These mistakes were not Onana’s first in the competition, however.
In the reverse home match against Galatasaray, the Cameroonian international made a dreadful pass out from the back which the opposition easily intercepted and bore down on goal.
In response, Casemiro desperately slid in to try and rectify his team-mate’s mistake. The result was a red card and a penalty. United were winning 2-1 at the time; they finished 3-2 losers.
Similarly, in the first match away to Bayern Munich, while fielding a severely weakened side due to injury, United started the game brightly, matching the German giants for the first twenty minutes.
This equality ended after a speculative shot by Leroy Sane was calamitously thrown into his own net by Onana. United would ultimately lose the match 4-3.
The criticism and pressure on the goalkeeper has been acute this week. Which has clouded what had been a series of excellent performances domestically by Onana.
United have won five of their last six league games, winning all three in November. A combination of favourable fixtures and the international break have undoubtedly played a significant role in this statistic, but Onana has consistently played well in the past two months since the Galatasaray howler at Old Trafford.
While Erik ten Hag’s side have suffered some embarrassing losses – 3-0 to City, 3-0 to Newcastle and 4-3 to FC Copenhagen – these have all stemmed from errors elsewhere on the pitch.
In November specifically, Onana did not concede a goal in the league. He leads the league in joint-first place for clean sheets while his underlying stats have been equally impressive – first place for save percentage and second for post-shot expected goals, goals prevented and overall saves.
Andre Onana’s Premier League stats so far:
🏟️ 13 games
🔢 78.8% save rate [=🥇]
🧤 51 saves [🥈]
🧼 5 clean sheets [=🥇]
❎ +3.4 post-shot expected goals [=🥈]
🥅 2.67 goals prevented [🥈]Underrated. 😤 pic.twitter.com/zM9S0yfUKB
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) November 27, 2023
In fact, these performances were enough to warrant inclusion by WhoScored for their Premier League Team of the Month, alongside Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes.
🏴 Premier League Team of the Month pic.twitter.com/03ttsfIMae
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) November 30, 2023
While Wednesday’s performance against Galatasaray was undeniably poor and questions can justifiably be raised about Onana, there is enough evidence over the past month to offer glimmers of positivity he will able to turn his Old Trafford career around.