In Man United's matches against FIFA Days in March, Andre Onana changed the trend of developing the ball up front while playing open.
Previously, he often passed the ball short to defenders or central defenders, but now he tends to pass it straight up to midfielders, even to strikers.
Man United fans cannot forget the reason Erik ten Hag pushed David De Gea away from Old Trafford. Ten Hag wanted to own a goalkeeper who could build play from the back, so he signed Andre Onana from Inter Milan. The fee of the 28-year-old goalkeeper is not cheap, he has saved the "Red Devils" 46 million pounds with the label of Champions League runner-up.
After nearly a year and a half of playing in Ten Hag's way but ineffectively, Onana is gradually changing under Ruben Amorim. At this time, he simply wanted to shoot the ball directly up front as required by the coaching staff.
How is it defined as a long pass? According to Opta, the distance of that phase from the penalty area must be at least 36.5m. Since the beginning of the season in the Premier League, there have been 5 goalkeepers who have made more long serve than Andre Onana.
However, if we consider the accuracy, Man United's "goalkeeper" will enter the Top 5 with a rate of 25.8%. This ratio is only about 1/4, meaning 4 passes, Onana is only accurate 1. However, it does not prevent the Man United goalkeeper from continuing to do so.
In Man United's last 5 matches in the Premier League and Europa League, Onana has an average of 20.4 long passes per match. In the 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford on 9 March, the 28-year-old goalkeeper made 29 long passes, the most in a single match since Ruben Amorim took charge at Old Trafford.
It is no coincidence that Onana changed his playing style, it is easy to see that this came from Amorim's decision. The Portuguese strategist's argument is very simple, if Onana cannot put pressure with short passes, replace them with long passes to avoid the risk of being pressed by the opponent in the penalty area.
Amorim has allowed Onana to play long passes if he feels risky, rather than stick to the rigid principle of short passes to better rotate the ball.
Regular long passing is against Onana's instinct. Amorim understands that but he is determined to change to find a new direction for Man United's playing style. At least, this method also helps Man United avoid more risks when being pressed at high altitudes.
"We will try to adapt. Sometimes the team will have short passes from the home field and vice versa. The opponents are putting more and more pressure on the opposite side of the pitch, so Man United have to adapt to what they have" - Amorim shared at the press conference before the match with Everton.
The next day, in the 2-2 match at Goodison Park, Onana mostly kept the ball in his feet instead of continuously passing it away. When Everton took the lead in the 19th minute, the home team's pressure was reduced, giving the Man United goalkeeper more time to hold the ball. Only 3/28 of Onana's passes were considered long balls.
However, in the 6 matches since the clash at Goodison Park, Onana has gone much further. In the subsequent win over Ipswich, he had more long passes than in any match since the start of the season.
Before being pressured by the opponent for lack of players ( patrick Dorgu received a red card), Onana even struggled continuously. In the following matches in the Europa League (for Real Sociedad) and Premier League (for Arsenal), Onana's serve was similar.
Precision long-range serves are not Onana's forte but he is improving. In the away match against Sociedad in Spain, he had an accurate pass rate of 8/20.
To be able to increase the accuracy, Onana really needs the partners above to move well to receive the ball. Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have played quite poorly in aerial matches this season in the Premier League. The "Red Devils" striker pair have a winning rate of 22% and 29%, respectively.
If he moves left to target Alejandro Garnacho, Andre Onana will also have difficulty with the Argentine striker's success rate in aerial combat being only 9%. Despite the low proportion of strikers, Onana could not help but float.
Statistics show that Man United have lost the ball at home in the third quarter of 142 times since the beginning of the Premier League season (ranked 6th). In addition, central defenders who have held the ball well like Lisandro Martinez have missed the rest of the season due to injury.
