Peter Schmeichel has detailed the advice he gave to Andre Onana after his early struggles at Manchester United.
Manchester United moved to sign Andre Onana in the summer transfer window to be their new first-choice goalkeeper after the departure of David de Gea.
Onana was coming off the back of a great season at Inter, where he impressed in the Italian side’s run to the Champions League final, and was particularly lauded for his ability in possession.
The Cameroonian was hailed as a transformative signing for Erik ten Hag’s side but things haven’t played out that way just yet.
Onana has made several high-profile mistakes in his first few months as a United player, including against Bayern Munich and Galatasaray in the Champions League.
Legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has now revealed what he told Onana after the mistakes.
Peter Schmeichel’s advice to Andre Onana
Speaking on the Upfront with Simon Jordan podcast, Schmeichel revealed what he told Onana after the mistake against Bayern.
He said: “I said to him, playing for this football club requires something. I’ve seen you at Inter, I know you have it.
“So don’t take anything you will read in the next couple of days for anything other than it’s what happens.
“The art of being a goalkeeper for Man United is you do mistakes, and we all do, everyone who has ever been in goal for United has made a mistake, the art is that the next second it’s forgotten about.
“You take it and put it away and move on to the next moment. If you don’t, you will make a mistake in the next moment.
“So I said this to him and then after the game when you go to sleep or night, play it through your mind again.
Think about where were you, how was your balance, all of these things and if you have an opportunity to take it into the training session the next day, try to replicate and see if there’s another way of doing it or a different solution.
“That’s what I said to him and the next game was at Galatasaray and we lost that game, I went up to him after and he was stood there I went over and spoke to half an hour and I said the same thing.
“He was at this point, he’s so insecure because he’s now feeling what United is. It’s that pressure down on your shoulders and it’s difficult to get up from that. I said just relax about it.
“Think about where you are, think about what you’re doing but you have to forget when you concede a goal straight away.
“You can not take it into the next moment and I can see in one of the goals you conceded today, you did bring it, you did something immediately after that is not in your game.
“You can’t do that. You have to stay strong.”
Improvement needed
Onana clearly needs to step up his game but he has been hamstrung in his debut season.
The goalkeeper has rarely had a settled back-line in front of him let alone a full-strength one, with injuries ravaging United all season long.
It’s hard to build an understanding with your teammates if you never play alongside them.
But there have been some promising signs at least and they were on display against Manchester City on Sunday.
Marcus Rashford got the plaudits for his sensational goal but it all started with Onana’s accurate long pass out of his hands to Bruno Fernandes.
The 27-year-old made several smart saves, too, but again showed his flaws by allowing Phil Foden’s winning strike to slip under him. Improvement is still needed.
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