United Beyond Manchester

After a few poor mistakes in the Champions League and Premier League, many fans (including myself) had written Andre Onana off as a bad signing. Fast forward to today, and he is likely to win Manchester United’s Player of the Month. Today, we dive into a few stats that show just how good Andre Onana has actually been.

Manchester United are facing over 17 shots per game in the Premier League, which puts the club in the bottom three. Andre Onana has been forced into 108 saves, which is third in the league. The closest “Big 6” goalkeeper to Onana is Guglielmo Vicario on 84 saves. This shows a worrying discrepancy between where United’s defending is and the rest of the top clubs.

Despite facing so many shots, Andre Onana is tied for second in clean sheets, two behind David Raya in first. Onana’s40 goals conceded are only less than the top 3 and are better than Tottenham and Aston Villa, who are both ahead of United.

Another stat in which Andre Onana excels is xGOT. xGOT, or Expected Goals on Target, is a post-shot metric that attributes an expected goal number to an on-target shot. Andre Onana has 3.99 xGOT, which means that, based on post-shot factors, he should have conceded four more goals than he has. That is an incredible number and shows how valuable his saves have been.

Onana has had some fantastic moments, particularly of late. His double save against Brentford on Saturday kept the scoreline level, and his nine saves against Aston Villa helped the team pick up a critical 2-1 win.

Andre Onana’s start at United was worrying, but his current form shows just how good he can be as the club’s number 1. If Manchester United wants Champions League qualification, Andre Onana will need to keep up his incredible form.