Amorim says Onana errors ‘normal’ and insists he remains ‘very confident’ in Man Utd goalkeeper | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim insists he retains complete confidence in Andre Onana despite the goalkeeper’s errors costing his side against Lyon.

Lyon took an early lead through an Onana error, when Thiago Almada’s free-kick beat the goalkeeper too easily, before United equalised through Leny Yoro’s first goal for the club when he reacted quickly to Manuel Ugarte’s shot at goal to divert the ball in.

But after Joshua Zirkzee had headed in from a delicate ball by Bruno Fernandes late on, Onana parried a shot straight into the path of Cherki who made no mistake from close range in second-half stoppage time as the game ended 2-2.

“It can happen,” Amorim said about Onana’s errors.

“If you play football and you play a lot of games you can make mistakes.

“If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and during this last month, so that can happen.

“The good thing is that we have one more game to change everything so that should be our focus.”

Onana had become embroiled in a war of words with Lyon and former Man Utd midfielder Nemanja Matic before the game, who labelled Onana “statistically one of the worst goalkeepers in Man United’s modern history”.

It led to a hostile atmosphere towards the Cameroonian, who was loudly booed at the Groupama Stadium.

And Amorim admits the atmosphere could have played a part in Onana’s difficult evening.

“I don’t know, that can happen,” he said when asked if that had any impact on him.

“The best thing is to look at the goals and all the actions that Andre has in the game, to talk with the coaches. This is the best way to help any player, to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve and then put in the player again.

“I didn’t see him (after the game), to be honest. I try to use those minutes to calm down and come here and say the right things.

“But it’s normal and I think I felt the dressing room was really quiet and that is a good thing.

“We drew away in Europe. That is always hard but the team is suffering and we need to change that and we have the opportunity to change so let’s focus on that.”

Amorim also says he will not speak with Onana about the mistakes and backed him to bounce back.

“Nothing,” he said when asked what he will say to the goalkeeper. “We have training, go with Vital (the goalkeeping coach) and he will deal with that.

“That can happen with any player. We all try to help. There’s nothing I can say to Andre in this moment that will help him.

“The most important is to be natural and when the time comes, I will choose the best 11 to play.

“But I’m really confident in Andre.”