‘We stay together’ – Onana hails togetherness inside Manchester United dressing

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·24 ottobre 2024

‘We stay together’ – Onana hails togetherness inside Manchester United dressing

Andre Onana has arguably been Manchester United’s most improved player since the start of the season. The goalkeeper has hailed the dressing room for taking responsibility and trying to self-correct their ‘mistakes’ to get the 2024/25 campaign on track.

Manager Erik ten Hag is under enormous pressure after a slow start to the season, but after getting back to winning ways against Brentford on Saturday, there’s hope United can go on a winning run.

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United take on Fenerbahce in the Europa League tonight after drawing their first two matches in the competition. Onana will be hoping to keep a clean sheet after conceding three goals against FC Porto in our recent Europa League encounter.

Onana claims there is regular communication amongst the squad on fixing the issues they face in each match. United are currently positioned 12th in the Premier League and take on West Ham in London on Sunday.

“We speak about everything,” Onana told Sky Sports. “We speak about goals, we speak about mistakes, we speak about free kicks. We speak about corners, how to defend and how to attack them.

“At the end of the day, when we step on the pitch, it’s to win.

“Clean sheets for defenders and as a goalkeeper is the first thing we have in mind. If we keep the zero, our front players, they will score. And [Marcus] Rashford sometimes when we score, he looks at me like, ‘Andre, now it’s your turn’ and he’s told me too – but in a nice way, because we are in this together.

“Now if Rashford is one against one with the defender, for us it’s helpful with his speed, he can make the difference. So we try always to speak about everything and look at what is best for the team.”

In turn, it’ll mean a lot more when we get back to winning consecutive matches. I hope that starts tonight with Fenerbahce and continues against West Ham at the weekend.

Andre Onana says United are together win, lose or draw

Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images

Onana hailed the togetherness and willingness of his team-mates to keep perspective as core to the team and not getting swept up by the noise that surrounds United.

“We stay together – as a football player and as a regular person, you know in life you will always find difficulty,” he says.

“You will come through it, you don’t know when but until you are there, you have to fight your way out.

“And us as players, when things are going wrong, we stay together because only together we can solve it.

“We showed already in the past that we can beat anyone. So we didn’t start this season how we want, but together we can change everything. So it is what we did and what we are going to do because everything in life is temporary.

“You will not always win and you will not always lose. So we have to find the good balance and move on because at the end of the day, it’s about winning games.

“That’s what we are training hard every day for and it’s important to stay together because if we are not together, then it’s better to not go on the pitch.”

Onana accepts that United face constant criticism, adding: “It’s the price to pay when you play for such a big club.

“You always hear about Manchester United, about Real Madrid, about Barcelona… fingers pointed everywhere. But us as players, we just focus on our things, because there are things in life we cannot control.

“And what people think and what people say, that is not what I can control. So we are just focused on our training, our games, our game plan and to win games because that is our main priority.

“What others think, we can’t control that – I wish we could control everything, but that is not for us. So we just let them speak and we are still in democracy so everyone is allowed to say whatever you want. We always try to take the positive side because it’s what is important for us.”