Man Utd’s Onana will never be consistent, he’s either brilliant or disastrous – but keepers always get it in the neck
IS there any sense in the modern obsession with goalkeepers using their feet so much?
Since Andre Onana and David Raya made serious blunders on Tuesday — leading to Champions League defeats for Manchester United and Arsenal — many have been asking that question.
Onana’s poor pass led to Casemiro being sent off and United conceding a penalty on their way to a home reverse against Galatasaray.
And after Raya came out of his area to play a stray pass which led to a Lens equaliser, Arsenal slid to their first loss of the season.
So why did Erik ten Hag get rid of a world-class shot-stopper in David de Gea and sign Onana?
And why has Mikel Arteta signed Raya and benched Aaron Ramsdale, who was excellent last season?
Well, football has changed so rapidly many people are struggling to keep up.
The best example I can give is my old Watford team-mate Heurelho Gomes.
He was the best shot-stopper I ever played with — good enough to play 11 times for Brazil and be No 1 at Tottenham.
Yet while he could accurately throw a ball to the halfway line, when Heurelho tried to use his feet it was as though he was wearing Aladdin’s slippers — he was hopeless.
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This isn’t a dig at a great bloke and a great player — but keepers like Gomes are pretty much obsolete.
He wouldn’t be an elite-level keeper now. They have to be decent with their feet.
Top keepers are almost always regarded as extra defenders who must be able to play.
Nick Pope of Newcastle is a rare exception among first-choice Premier League goalkeepers.
When most top clubs look for a keeper, their shot-stopping ability is the third or fourth most important thing.
Playing out from the back allows a team to keep possession better, to get into the opposition’s half so their forwards can play.
When it comes to goalkeepers, let me point out they are weirdos — complete eccentrics.
The goalkeepers’ union all know one another and when they talk between themselves about the game they seem to speak a different language to the rest of us.
They’re crazed and obsessive, if the other keeper at their club bench presses 100 kilos, they will make sure they do 120 kilos.
Keepers and strikers who are team-mates have love-hate relationships. Every day at training we are trying to stop each other doing our jobs.
Take my friend Ben Foster, another former Watford team-mate.
During shooting drills, if you kept scoring, he would moan that they were unrealistic. Not so much if he was getting the better of you.
I feel for keepers, though, because 99 per cent of their mistakes lead to goals and the level of scrutiny they face at a top Premier League club is massive.
Even for Onana, moving from Inter Milan to United, the spotlight is harsher — it’s global. And the game in England is so much faster than in Italy.
I understand why Ten Hag signed him but Onana is coming into a side still searching for an identity — leaking goals and losing games.
That’s not all down to him but, as the keeper, he will get it in the neck more than his team-mates.
Onana doesn’t strike me as a keeper who will ever be truly consistent. He will be either brilliant or disastrous.
Arteta signed Raya because he is better with his feet than Ramsdale.
It was harsh on Ramsdale but the Arsenal boss is looking for those extra one per cents that might help his team edge ahead of Manchester City.
Unlike Onana, Raya is coming into a settled side, so he has a better chance.
Arteta recently spoke about the idea of substituting one keeper for another for tactical reasons — not because the starting keeper was having a nightmare.
It was interesting but I don’t think it’s ever likely to happen.
You just aren’t going to sub a keeper in a tight match when he hasn’t made a serious error.
Substitute keepers are not as mentally prepared as on-field subs, they don’t expect to get on, so that idea doesn’t make sense to me.
And I don’t think it would make sense to goalkeepers, either.
Not that I will ever truly understand how their minds work!