According to Manchester Evening News, It’s difficult to contest Manchester United’s dominance in any category this season. And yet, they could have a trophy to show for it for the second year running.
They are currently sixth in the Premier League, with the same number of points separating them from the top four as from the bottom half of the standings, despite their thrilling 3-0 victory over West Ham United last weekend.
Depending on how you interpret it, the story can either be interpreted as a depressing pile-on or as hope that things might finally be improving now that so many important players are back on the field. But there is one thing that cannot be disputed. This season, United has given up more goals than they have scored. Despite this, they have three fewer goals allowed than Tottenham and have the sixth-best defensive record in the Premier League.
The competition for the Golden Glove award may be a better way to put this. Andre Onana’s ranking second on the list is concerning, but even more so is the fact that he trails Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the standings.
Only the top three Premier League teams have conceded fewer goals than Everton, who despite their 10-point deduction are now 18th in the table, have the fourth-best defensive record this year.
You see, the peculiarity of the award is that, while the goalkeeper who has kept the most clean sheets receives recognition for their accomplishments, it does not imply that they are the best goalkeeper.
Onana has maintained as many clean sheets as Alisson Becker, but in two fewer games, the United goalkeeper has given up 32 goals, while the Liverpool goalkeeper has given up just 19.
Furthermore, the Golden Glove Award fails to acknowledge the variety of difficulties a goalie must overcome. Maintaining clean sheets is much more difficult when your team is struggling and plays most of the games on the back foot than it is when you are winning every week and have much less work to do.
Of course, Onana isn’t given that luxury this season, but anyone who has watched United will acknowledge that he isn’t the best player in the Premier League right now.
To doubt the award’s legitimacy—especially considering that keeping a clean sheet is a team effort rather than the sole responsibility of the goalie—one need only consider the fact that David de Gea took home the trophy the previous season in spite of a long list of well-publicized errors. But there’s still cause for celebration no matter what happens. Though he has occasionally struggled in the Premier League, Onana has generally been quite good there. His worst games have come in the Champions League.
Consider the victory over West Ham that occurred recently. In the end, it would appear to be a convincing home victory, but if Tomáš Souček hadn’t made a brilliant reaction stop to deny his deflected header in the first half, the outcome could have been very different.
“He has been criticised at times, but you expect your goalkeeper to make important saves in the crucial time of the game as well,” Dwight Yorke said afterwards.
“I think this is a great reflex save. He is showing a good and strong left hand. He will be really pleased with that because Man United tend to concede quite a lot of goals from set-pieces and this was a possible one, but the goalkeeper did fantastically well.”
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Given his disastrous Champions League campaign, it is easy to join the Onana bandwagon, but Ten Hag is generally satisfied with his goal selection and believes he can still improve.
Even though it would be hilarious if a United player won the Golden Glove Award for the second consecutive year, the fact that De Gea is no longer with the team proves that this isn’t the whole story.
Although Onana has improved steadily since joining the team, his achievements as a team will matter more to him than his individual accomplishments.
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