Erik ten Hag has urged Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana to build on the progress he has made in the past two games and take it into Sunday’s derby with Manchester City.
Onana has found life tough at Old Trafford following his summer switch from Inter but looked more assured in the 2-1 win at Sheffield United last weekend before stealing the headlines with a last-gasp penalty save in the 1-0 Champions League victory over FC Copenhagen in midweek.
He is likely to be tested by City’s potent attack on Sunday and, although encouraged by his recent improvement, Ten Hag thinks there is better to come from the Cameroon international.
He said: “You give him the standards and the expectations but it’s also about getting to the same level. He has high expectations from himself.
“We give him the confidence [and tell him] ‘look what you did in the past for great clubs in great leagues, you have the ability and the skills’.
“The last two games have been progress, now we have to keep this going. It’s very good but at Manchester United, good is not good enough.”
Onana’s heroics on Tuesday night saw him dragged into a controversy with forward Alejandro Garnacho putting out a now deleted social media post that hailed the goalkeeper but also included two gorilla emojis.
Onana quickly insisted “no action should be taken” and Ten Hag also claimed there was no lingering issue between the pair.
The former Ajax boss said he wasn’t concerned Argentinian Garnacho would be banned “at this moment”, and added: “We are talking with the Football Association.
“But what you see, and I can confirm that and want to emphasise, we are together, we are united and you have seen that in the post of Andre Onana.”
A Manchester derby is on the horizon 🌅#MUFC || #PL
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) OCTOBER 26, 2023
United have scored just 11 goals in their nine Premier League games this season and Ten Hag is hoping they can make better use of being in good attacking positions against Pep Guardiola’s European champions.
“We are not consistently at the level we can be, like [we were] in the first 30 minutes at Arsenal and the first 20 minutes at Bayern Munich” he said.
“We should do this on a consistent basis. We don’t take the benefits from moments of attacking transition. We have the ability in our team to do it and that is how to progress.”
United come into the derby six points behind City, and with a doubt over the availability of key midfielder Casemiro.
Ten Hag added: “I think it’s a match that is so huge because it’s Manchester, it’s internal but it’s also about world football. All the eyes will be on this game globally.”
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