3 weeks ago
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ANDRE ONANA has been Manchester United’s Most Valuable Player this season, according to legendary club striker Andy Cole.
Onana, alongside the rest of his Red Devils teammates, has faced heavy criticism for United’s underwhelming season.
The Sun
GettyThe Cameroonian goalkeeper had a tough start to life at Old Trafford after making his £47million move from Inter Milan last summer.
Onana made several high-profile blunders and his huge mistakes cost his side points in the Premier League, and led to them crashing out the Champions League.
But Cole – who scored 121 goals for United – believes the 27-year-old is starting to show his worth and has become a crucial part of Erik ten Hag’s team.
Cole told Betfred: “He’s definitely overworked at the moment and that’s why we’re talking about him.
“He’s producing a hell of a lot of saves and many of them are ones that he shouldn’t even have to produce.
“But because United continue to give the ball away in certain areas so easily, the goalkeeper has been their MVP on a lot of occasions.
“He has unbelievable feet too. Fair play to him because he had a tough start, but now he’s starting to show what a good goalkeeper he is.”
Onana has now faced a whopping 258 shots on goal in 2024 alone.
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Including 28 in each of his last two Premier League games which led to defeat at Chelsea and a 2-2 draw with Liverpool.
Unsurprisingly, Onana has been forced to save the most shots in this season – 120.
This is one ahead of Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski and 19 more save attempts than Sheffield United stopper Wes Foderingham.
Onana admitted that United’s injury issues has not helped his search for stability between the posts.
He told Sky Sports: “Well, it’s quite easy when you’re used to playing with the same back four.
“Unfortunately we have a lot of injuries. Being a goalkeeper is a position with a lot of responsibility. You have to be ready to play with anyone and… I can’t complain.”
United return to domestic action on Saturday when they travel to Bournemouth.
The Cherries were shock 3-0 winners when the two teams met in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford.
Tuchel showed why he could be the perfect man for Man Utd, says Andy Dillon
By Andy Dillon
TOMMY TUCHEL could not have done it better had he submitted his CV to LinkedIn or Indeed.
Somehow mustering some gumption from the worst Bayern Munich team in more than a decade to stop a rampant Arsenal dead in their tracks is a spectacular job advert for a manager soon to be looking for work.
If Sir Jim Ratcliffe wasn’t watching from his Old Trafford office or from the cinema room in one of his tax havens, he should have been.
They may have even sat up and taken notice in Newcastle or in the owners’ Riyadh hub as Tuchel reminded everyone of his credentials as a top-level coach with devilish timing.
If change is coming then Tuchel is playing a trump card.
His side turned up and cowed the team that, as far as the current Premier League goes, is the best in England.
It may only add to the questions around Tuchel that after tossing away the only league easier to win than Scotland’s or Spain’s, Munich have sprung to life in Europe.
After 11 years unopposed as German champions, Chelsea’s former manager has chucked it in at home in a remarkable act of ineptitude. But freak years can happen.
Tuchel is an enigma. But that is part of the appeal as much as winning the Champions League with Chelsea just three months after taking the job.
With no new signings, he took a team that had lost five of the previous ten games and turned them into European Champions.
With Ratcliffe considering swingeing budget cuts at Old Trafford, a coach who can perform wonders on peanuts would be music to his ears.
Click here to ready Andy’s column in full.
Or to read more from Andy Dillon, click here.
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