Andre Onana had another night to forget for Man United in Lyon, where he was blameworthy for both goals they conceded.
Ruben Amorim insists he will not say anything to Andre Onana despite his two blunders in Manchester United’s Europa League draw with Lyon.
Onana was culpable for Thiago Almada’s direct free kick and Rayan Cherki’s 95th-minute equaliser four days after he billed United as “way better” than Lyon.
Former United midfielder Nemanja Matic, who was an unused substitute for Lyon, suggested Onana was “statistically one of the worst goalkeepers” in United’s history on Wednesday. Onana hit back by deriding Matic’s five trophyless years at United in a social media post.
Amorim must decide whether to retain Onana for the Premier League visit to Newcastle United on Sunday before the return leg with Lyon on Thursday. Onana has committed more errors leading to goals in all competitions than any other Premier League ‘keeper since the start of last season.
“It can happen,” Amorim said of Onana’s mistakes. “If you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes. If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months. The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.
“I don’t know (if Matic unsettled Onana), that can happen. The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, talk with (Jorge) Vital and Craig (Mawson), this is the best way to help any player. It’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve and then put the player in.
“I didn’t see [Onana], to be honest with you. I use these minutes to try to calm down, to come here to say the right things. It’s normal. I felt the dressing room was really quiet. We draw away, in Europe, that is always hard, but the team is suffering, we need to change that.
“Nothing. We have training, go with Vital and we deal with that. Really natural. That can happen with any player. There’s nothing I can say to Andre in this moment. The most important thing is to be natural and then, when the time comes, I will choose the best XI to play. But I’m really confident in Andre.”
Leny Yoro equalised for United with the final touch in the first half and substitute Joshua Zirkzee appeared to have claimed victory with an 88th-minute header before Onana’s blunder.
United are winless in three games, having lost at Nottingham Forest and drawn with Manchester City last week, but their progressive performances offer encouragement and Amorim agreed that United had control and created chances in Lyon.
“That is clear but we need to have results,” Amorim stressed. “We are talking about the performance. We are improving, we are being consistent, that is clear, but we need to win.
“We had the game under control. The last play before the goal was one play where we want to make the third goal, sometimes you can keep the ball. But I like that energy from the team to score another goal.
“But that can happen and we need to focus on changing that next Thursday.”
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