Exclusive: ‘Weak’ Man Utd goalkeeper coach questioned on Onana by David James | OneFootball

Andre Onana and David James

Former England keeper David James has given his verdict on Manchester United stopper Andre Onana and claims the goalkeeping coach should share any blame for his mistakes.

United manager Erik ten Hag opted to off-load David de Gea last summer and replace him with Onana, but that decision has drawn criticism after some high-profile errors from the Cameroon keeper.

While the 27-year-old keeper was at fault for a series of goals that contributed to United’s exit from the Champions League in the group stages, James believes the criticism flowing Onana’s way have been overblown.

Speaking exclusively to Football365, former Liverpool and Manchester City keeper James suggested Onana will be a better long-term prospect for United, but he is not convinced Ten Hag will remain in his post for long enough to see the keeper prove his worth.

“With Onana, you have a keeper who is capable of distributing a ball as good and maybe even better than anyone in the Premier League, left foot and right foot,” said James, who was capped 53 times at international level by England.

“The guy is seriously competent in that department of his game, but he is playing in a side struggling to make best use of his skills.

“At Manchester City, Emerson can ping a ball into midfield and Bernardo Silva can take it down and make something happen quickly, but Manchester United don’t seem to have the players who are capable of doing that under pressure.

“I still believe Onana is a better keeper than David De Gea in an all-round sense. De Gea was a fantastic shot stopper and had great reflexes, but he didn’t have the ability to get a team moving quickly with his distribution and that is so important in the modern game.

“I’m on a goalkeeping coaching course at the moment and the importance of being able to pass the ball accurately with both feet is now massive in the game and De Gea was not the best at that.

“Also, I don’t think Onana has been at fault for as many goals as people like to believe and United have problems right left and centre, so it is not all down to one player.

“If you take the Champions League matches out of this discussion, Onana has one of the best record for clean sheets in the Premier League. United have had six and the highest for any team is seven, so it’s not bad.

“You can look at whatever numbers you want to look at to justify your point, but I think Onana will be a good keeper for United in the long-term.”

“One question I would ask is what is the Manchester United goalkeeper coach doing with Onana every day? Is he working with him in the right areas or is he too weak to take the session to where the keeper needs to be?

“In time, I believe Onana will prove his value to Manchester United and Ten Hag will benefit from that if he stays there for long enough, but there have be doubts over his future.

“If it doesn’t look like he is going to finish in the Champions League, tradition says that’s your exit from a club of that size.”

James went on to suggest Onana made a mistake when he apologised publicly for his errors in United’s chaotic 4-3 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League in September.

“Onana made life a little more difficult for himself when he came out after the Bayern Munich game and accepted the blame for the defeat,” he added.

“His mistakes contributed to the defeat, but it wasn’t all down to him and I didn’t understand the decision to come out and say it was his fault.

“Manchester United as a football club are under pressure, the manager is under pressure and Onana coming out and taking responsibility for a mistake doesn’t help anyone. It just piles the pressure on him for the next game.

“You could say it is honourable in one sense to accept a mistake and apologise, but I think you should leave it to the pundits to decide whether you are to blame and focus on the next game without putting even more pressure on yourself.”