by Oh-NANA!
In yesterday’s full edition of Football Daily, the world’s most up-to-date football email featured a piece that had just been published on the Big Web. A great tribute to André Onana, he detailed how the Manchester United goalkeeper finally found his mojo after starting his career at Old Trafford in a much-loved and highly-promising manner. In this carefully considered piece, the author made the not-too-subtle point that United, after keeping clean sheets against Luton and Everton, “finally stemmed the flow. [of goals] on the back”, in a state of affairs that was largely due to “Onana beginning to prove his worth”.
Needless to say, Football Daily called it. Linking to this tribute titled “André Onana is finally finding his feet at Manchester United”, we noted that its publication would almost certainly kill any chance of the Cameroonian letterman playing well in against Galatasaray in a game that his side desperately needed. to have a realistic chance of progressing to the winning stages of the Grand Cup. If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it on our Manchester United keywords page, tucked under later articles and video clips with the headline “Ten Hag refuses to blame Onana after United draw in Galatasaray” and “Manchester United undone by Onana gifts in six-goal thriller”, among others.
Yes, it’s fair to say that Onana has finally found his feet all right, although on Wednesday night he played like a man who put them on the wrong foot. Showing all the poise of Percy Fawcett as he fought his way out of an Amazon rainforest, the tireless goalkeeper conceded two superbly soft free-kicks from Hakim Ziyech, whose he was so surprised to see the latter enter that he had the good grace. not mocking Onana’s obvious distress by overwhelmingly refusing to celebrate her strike. “It’s not about one individual,” Erik ten Hag said after the game. “Individual errors in football can make a difference and you take responsibility for it, but it’s always about the team.”
The importance of the team over the individual was a point Bruno Fernandes reiterated during his post-match tribute to TNT, although he clearly had a pop at an angry Anthony Martial by his captain for some time. glory identity as United went all out for a late winner. And to be fair to Onana and Martial, on a biblically wet night in the febrile surroundings of Rams Park, there was plenty of blame to go around for United’s shortcomings, even if Fernandes chose to address the two free-kicks he gave away. that was the root cause of Onana’s crying. Ahead of a game where the chaos that has plagued Manchester United behind the scenes for decades was finally on the pitch, Ten Hag issued a stern warning to his players. “You have to be calm in your head and not be too emotional,” he said. “Control emotion, don’t give them anything.” So went well, eh?
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STATEMENT OF THE DAY
“He said he loved soccer. Among the comments from the players were ‘Okay, friends?’ to ‘Who’s that w@nker?’ … Not much respect was shown” – ex-Chelsea striker Steve Finnieston reminisces in this piece by Jonathan Wilson about Henry Kissinger, who has died aged 100, and his strange links to the game.
DAILY FOOTBALL LETTERS
So, after the fifth round of the Super Cup group games, Manchester United’s chances are up in the air and out of their hands. Just like the ball and André Onana” – Neil Bage.
In my humble opinion, every overhead kick/scissors (Grey Football letters passim) in a crowded penalty area should be considered a dangerous play. Bah humbug” – Jack Doyle.
Bob Mortimer’s autobiography (Yesterday’s Football) is excellent, but it has a major flaw: it doesn’t mention Glenn Hoddle. I studied for my law finals with Bob at Manchester Poly and we played in the same faculty football team (Bob was a boisterous, skilful but dirty midfielder). I was delighted at first when he nicknamed me ‘Glenn Hoddle’, a sobriquet that stuck and was adopted by my teammates. Since I was, what could be called ‘half an agricultural centre’, I’d rather think it was because of my hair, but in truth I doubt it more likely, despite to claim that he never expressed an opinion, that he was. to do that on my football ability and take the p1ss” – John Myles.
Send any letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winning letter is … John Myles, offering a copy of Woman Up, by Carrie Dunn. We have one more to give away, so get typing.
