{"id":293061,"date":"2023-10-26T01:26:48","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T01:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=293061"},"modified":"2023-10-26T01:26:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T01:26:48","slug":"onanas-penalty-heroics-can-be-launching-pad-for-the-cat-that-flies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/onanas-penalty-heroics-can-be-launching-pad-for-the-cat-that-flies\/","title":{"rendered":"Onana&apos;s penalty heroics can be launching pad for &apos;the cat that flies&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Andre Onana had a difficult start to life at Man United and his previously unwavering confidence has needed rebuilding&#8230; his penalty heroics against FC Copenhagen can be a launching pad for &#8216;the cat that flies&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Andre Onana&#8217;s last-second penalty save gave Man United victory on Tuesday\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>It has been a tough start to life at Old Trafford but he now has a springboard\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Follow Mail Sport&#8217;s new Man United WhatsApp channel for all the breaking news\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Andre Onana\u00a0stood on his goal line and stared down Jordan Larsson as the FC Copenhagen substitute waited behind the penalty spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>No cribsheets on water bottles. Onana is a goalkeeper who has always preferred to read his opponent until the very last second.<\/p>\n<p>In Italy, with Inter Milan, they likened his approach to animal instinct.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>Il gatto che vola<\/span>. The cat that flies.<\/p>\n<p>Manchester United&#8217;s coaching staff discussed penalties with Onana in training on Sunday after he came close to keeping out Oli McBurnie&#8217;s equalising effort for Sheffield United the night before.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/17\/76993919-0-image-a-1_1698252821191.jpg\" height=\"383\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Andre Onana was the man of the hour for Manchester United by saving a penalty on Tuesday<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/17\/76993921-0-image-a-2_1698252828855.jpg\" height=\"435\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>It was redemption for the Cameroonian after errors against Bayern Munich and Galatasaray<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>There was still plenty of time to score a winner at Bramall Lane, but on Tuesday night it had run out. We were in the 97th minute when Larsson stepped up for the last kick of the game. A 1-1 draw would have almost certainly ended United&#8217;s hopes of Champions League progression. Onana, criticised for his performances against Bayern Munich and Galatasaray, knew that.<\/p>\n<p>The young Swede aimed to the keeper&#8217;s left but Onana&#8217;s instinct was spot on again. He lunged across the goal and beat the ball away with his right hand.<\/p>\n<p>Old Trafford erupted. Onana&#8217;s wife Melanie and their four children &#8211; watching from the stands for only the second time since he joined United &#8211; were caught up in the scenes of delirium, and he was almost buried in the back of his own net by ecstatic team-mates as the final whistle blew.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We had to win this game,&#8217; he said afterwards. &#8216;We are Manchester United and it&#8217;s unacceptable to go out after the first three games. We&#8217;re too big to go out so soon.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The celebrations were reminiscent of United&#8217;s last home game when Scott McTominay scored deep into injury-time against Brentford and Onana raced half the length of the pitch to jump on his team-mate.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/17\/76993951-0-image-a-3_1698252885131.jpg\" height=\"397\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Onana has been working on rebuilding his confidence and he deserved his night on Tuesday<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/17\/76993945-0-image-a-4_1698252889778.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Team-mates and coaches recognised the magnitude of the moment &#8211; it can be a springboard<\/p>\n<p>That day, however, the joy was mixed with huge relief after he had been beaten by Mathias Jensen&#8217;s soft opener.<\/p>\n<p>Onana left Old Trafford afterwards for the international break, catching a private jet to Paris. But he didn&#8217;t join his Cameroon team-mates in Moscow immediately.<\/p>\n<p>The 27-year-old had permission to fly home to Yaounde where he stayed for three days with his parents and siblings, having not seen them since moving to Manchester in the summer.<\/p>\n<p>It was time well spent. Onana cleared his head and reflected on his difficult start at United that had brought six defeats and 18 goals in his first 10 games.<\/p>\n<p>He reminded himself that he had not become a bad keeper overnight, nor in the four months since he put in such a confident display for Inter against Manchester City and Erling Haaland in the Champions League final.<\/p>\n<p>There was no doubt too that United&#8217;s injury problems had been a factor after being used to playing behind a settled back-five in Italy.<\/p>\n<p>Slowly, Onana began repairing the hitherto unshakeable confidence that had been battered from the moment he was lobbed from 50 yards by Florian Sotoca on his home debut against Lens in August.<\/p>\n<p>The goal came from Diogo Dalot&#8217;s mistake, but for many it highlighted the risks of replacing David de Gea with a keeper who liked to operate so far out of his box.<\/p>\n<p>The criticism over a pre-season friendly was extreme, even for someone who had grown up at Barcelona and played for Ajax and Inter.<\/p>\n<p>We began to see less of Onana&#8217;s eccentricities; as if the free spirit who arrived in a \u00a347.2million deal has been weighed down by the early-season problems at his new club<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/17\/76994113-0-image-a-5_1698252900473.jpg\" height=\"456\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>After joining from Inter Milan, mistakes crept in and criticism, albeit extreme criticism, arrived<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/17\/76994117-0-image-a-6_1698252909649.jpg\" height=\"503\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>He was brought in to be a ball-playing goalkeeper but his knocked confidence saw him go long<\/p>\n<p>A keeper brought in to play out from the back and venture from his box began kicking longer and playing it safe instead.<\/p>\n<p>United&#8217;s coaching staff are understood to have become concerned over how long it took Onana to get over conceding a goal and refocus on shouting instructions to his defenders.<\/p>\n<p>They concentrated on improving his ability to set himself more quickly to save shots, particularly those close to his body.<\/p>\n<p>Onana recovered during the international break. He didn&#8217;t play in Russia but looked more like his old self against Senegal in Lens.<\/p>\n<p>He returned to put in a solid performance at Sheffield United, where he made four fine saves, and an even better display against Copenhagen. The one-handed stop from Lukas Lerager early in the second half stood out.<\/p>\n<p>If it felt like a night of redemption for United&#8217;s goal scorer Harry Maguire, then what about Onana? This could be the turning point for him.<\/p>\n<p>Next up, it&#8217;s City and Haaland again in the Manchester derby. An ideal opportunity to win over more fans.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/17\/76993925-0-image-a-7_1698252919373.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Now he looks to have his mojo back and next up it is a Manchester Derby for him to negotiate<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12672019\/Andre-Onana-difficult-start-life-Man-United-previously-unwavering-confidence-needed-rebuilding-penalty-heroics-against-FC-Copenhagen-launching-pad-cat-flies.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Andre Onana had a difficult start to life at Man United and his previously unwavering confidence has needed rebuilding&#8230; his penalty heroics against FC Copenhagen <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/onanas-penalty-heroics-can-be-launching-pad-for-the-cat-that-flies\/\" title=\"Onana&amp;apos;s penalty heroics can be launching pad for &amp;apos;the cat that flies&amp;apos;\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Onana&amp;apos;s penalty heroics can be launching pad for &amp;apos;the cat that flies&amp;apos; - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/onanas-penalty-heroics-can-be-launching-pad-for-the-cat-that-flies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Onana&amp;apos;s penalty heroics can be launching pad for &amp;apos;the cat that flies&amp;apos; 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