Man Utd goalkeeper best Premier League shot-stopper data reveals

Andre Onana shouldn’t be the kind of character to wilt when circumstances go towards him.

While at Ajax in 2021, Onana mistakenly popped a diuretic capsule prescribed to his spouse when he’d been fumbling round for some paracetamol. He was served with a nine-month doping ban. “It was incredible,” he recalled, “40mg can destroy a career.”

Forced to observe on from the sidelines whereas wild accusations have been flung his method, Onana held agency and solely improved upon his return. The 27-year-old reached final yr’s Champions League closing with Inter earlier than changing into the most costly goalkeeper in Manchester United’s historical past in the summertime. “I’ve come back from it,” he mentioned of his ban, “but if it happened to someone less strong mentally it would be very difficult.”

Onana’s psychological fortitude was firmly required throughout a testing opening few months at Old Trafford. A gaggle of goalkeeping errors, together with his arms and vaunted toes, culminated in Onana letting Mathias Jensen’s tame shot squirm underneath his limp wrist as United fell behind at dwelling to Brentford in October.

United had misplaced six of their earlier 9 matches and have been booed off at half-time. But the destiny of the staff and their goalkeeper appeared to shift throughout that second half. Onana pulled off a flurry of essential saves to maintain United within the contest earlier than Scott McTominay’s stoppage-time brace gained the match. Onana beat a few of his outfield teammates to engulf the Scot in celebration of his second aim.

While the following six weeks have not been faultless – United solely gained their first match of the season by greater than a single aim towards Everton – Onana’s contribution between the posts has been exemplary.

In the Cameroon worldwide’s subsequent look at Old Trafford after the Brentford victory, Onana was on the epicentre of extra late drama to beat away a stoppage-time penalty from FC Copenhagen’s Jordan Larsson, thereby incomes United’s first Champions League win of the season.

When contemplating Premier League matches, United’s custodian has saved between eight and 9 targets greater than the typical goalkeeper can be anticipated to, primarily based on the standard and amount of pictures flying his method (per StatsBomb). That’s greater than some other goalkeeper in England’s high flight.

StatsBomb can calculate what number of targets a keeper can be anticipated to concede by measuring a raft of attributes about every shot as soon as it has been struck, such because the trajectory and pace of the strike, how shut it’s to the corners, which a part of the physique was used to make the try.

By evaluating all of this data to hundreds of earlier makes an attempt (the place the end result – did it end in a aim – is thought), each shot is assigned a numerical worth between zero and one to symbolize how doubtless it could be to beat a mean goalkeeper. A degree-blank strike heading in direction of the highest nook can be nearer to at least one than a long-range pea-roller down the center.

Adding up all of those values for each effort a keeper faces supplies an estimate of what number of targets the typical shot-stopper would ship. When the numbers are crunched, Onana comes out on high within the Premier League.

Onana arrived at United with most of his fame constructed round what he might do with the ball at his toes. In UEFA’s technical report of final yr’s Champions League closing, Onana was lauded as “less a sweeper-keeper than a holding midfielder”. However, Inter’s run to that European showpiece was underpinned by Onana’s shot-stopping.

Across Inter’s 12 matches forward of the ultimate, Onana saved eight clear sheets, conceding simply 9 occasions from pictures that may have been anticipated to supply 16 targets (per StatsBomb). No different keeper prevented extra targets within the competitors.

Onana’s return to that spectacular type has not gone unnoticed by Ten Hag. “He has been playing very well for a number of matches,” Onana’s former Ajax supervisor smiled after United’s 3-0 victory over Everton on Sunday. “He has a lot of charisma, gives the defence a lot of rest, [made] a few great saves… Yes, Onana had an excellent match.”

Thanks in no small half to Onana’s steely resolve, Ten Hag has been in a position to say that final throwaway line much more usually.

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