OH NANA!
In yesterday’s full issue of Football Daily, the world’s most teatime football email marked a newly published article on the Big Website. A well-crafted hymn of praise to André Onana detailed how Manchester United’s goalkeeper had finally rediscovered his mojo after an extremely tense and gaffe-prone start to his career at Old Trafford. In this carefully considered article, the author made the not-so-nonsensical point that United had “finally stopped the flow” after keeping clean sheets against Luton and Everton. [of goals] in the back”, which was largely due to “Onana starting to prove his worth”.
Needless to say, Football Daily said it. When linking to this tribute titled “André Onana finally finds his feet at Manchester United”, we noted that its publication would almost certainly destroy the Cameroonian letter writer’s chance of playing well against Galatasaray in a game his team really needed. Win to have a realistic chance of advancing to the knockout stages of the Grand Cup. If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it on our Manchester United keyword page, below more recent articles and video clips titled “Ten Hag refuses to blame Onana after United’s Galatasaray draw” and “Manchester United ruined by Onana’s gifts”. six-goal thriller”, among others.
Yes, it’s fair to say Onana has finally found his feet well, though on Wednesday night he was playing like a man who had them screwed to the wrong end of his legs. Displaying all the positional acumen of Percy Fawcett trying to find his way out of the Amazon rainforest, the hapless goalkeeper allowed two extremely soft free kicks from Hakim Ziyech, who was surprised and gracious to see the second enter the goal. Not expressing obvious pain by refusing to celebrate Onana’s strike too much. “This is not about one person,” Erik ten Hag shouted after the match. “In football, individual mistakes can make a difference and you take responsibility for that, but it’s always about the team.”
The importance of the team over the individual was a point reiterated by Bruno Fernandes during his post-match interview with TNT; but at times he would take a thinly disguised hit at Anthony Martial, who was angrily scolded by his captain. Selfishness chasing victory as United did their best to grab a late lead. And to be fair to Onana and Martial, on a biblically rainy night in the heat of Rams Park, there was plenty of blame to go around for United’s shortcomings, even if Fernandes had chosen to cover up the two daft free-kicks he had scored. This was the main reason for Onana’s howling screams. Ten Hag had given a stern warning to his players before the match, in which the chaos that had been disturbing Manchester United behind the scenes for years was reflected on the field. “You have to stay calm in your mind and not get too emotional,” he said. “Control your emotions, don’t give them anything.” So everything went well, right?
LIVE ON MAJOR WEBSITE
Join John Brewin from 17.45 GMT and 20:00 for time-watch coverage of the latest Big Vase action including AEK Athens 2-3 Brighton, Backa Topola 1-2 West Ham, Liverpool 3-0 Lask and Rangers 2-1 Aris Limassol. Join Scott Murray at 00. .
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“He said he loved football. The players’ comments were ‘Okay, mate?’ It ranged from ‘Who is this w@nker?’ … Not a lot of respect was shown” – Reminiscences of former Chelsea striker Steve Finnieston in this article by Jonathan Wilson about Henry Kissinger, who has died aged 100, and his interesting connections to the game.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
So after the fifth round of the Big Cup group matches, Manchester United’s chances were up in the air and out of their hands. Just like the ball and André Onana” – Neil Bage.
In my humble opinion, all overhead/scissor kicks (Football Daily letters passim) in a crowded penalty area should be considered dangerous play. Bahh fraud” – Jack Doyle.
Bob Mortimer’s autobiography (yesterday’s Football Daily) is truly excellent, but it has one major flaw: it makes no mention of Glenn Hoddle. I studied with Bob at Manchester Poly for his law finals and we played on the same faculty football team (Bob was an active, skilful but rather dirty midfielder). I was delighted when he initially called me ‘Glenn Hoddle’; It was a nickname adopted by my teammates as well. Given that I’m in what might be called an ‘agricultural half’, I like to think it’s because of my hair, but in reality I’m more suspicious that it’s her, despite her claims that she’s never expressed an opinion. I do just that on my football ability and get the p1ss” – John Myles.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. The winner of today’s letter is…John Myles, who received a copy of Woman Up by Carrie Dunn. I’ve got one more to give, so start writing.