The star of Manchester United, Andre Onana, has explained why, despite his praise for manager Erik ten Hag, he will not openly support him.
Last summer,
It took him several months to settle in at Old Trafford after he made a number of highly publicized mistakes during the Champions League group stage.
However, he has been among United’s most reliable players in 2024, earning praise for both his distribution and shot-stopping.
Additionally, Ten Hag’s team has been letting up 87 shots in their last three games following the international break, so Onana has got to be playing well lately.
They gave up another 12 shots in the first forty-five minutes of their match against Bournemouth on Saturday. Dominic Solanke and Justin Kluivert gave the Cherries a 2-1 lead, but Bruno Fernandes’ penalty kick tied it 2-2.
In a pre-game interview with Sky Sports, Onana called Ten Hag a “very good manager,” but he also gave an explanation for why he will not openly support the former Ajax manager.
He started, “Football doesn’t have a memory.”
“They will always remember what you did last, even if you offer good today, yesterday, and bad tomorrow. Sadly, there is little you can do about it.
Erik is an excellent manager. He’s large enough to support himself, so I’m not here to back him.”
This season, Ten Hag’s team has struggled with consistency; victories or draws have frequently followed encouraging performances on the field.
Their opponents on Saturday are well aware of this; United defeated Chelsea in December, then lost badly to Bournemouth 3-0 at home a few days later.
Although the 2-2 draw against Liverpool at home might be seen as a kind of victory because they were ahead until Mohamed Salah’s late penalty, Ten Hag’s team will view the 2-2 draw against Bournemouth as a loss of two points as their chances of making it into the Champions League next season continue to dwindle.
