I must confess He is really good,He is the only player that I see in that Man United Team,He really gave us a tough time’: Unai Emery says One Man United player really impressed Him despite their loss
I must confess He is really good,He is the only player that I see in that Man United Team,He really gave us a tough time’: Unai Emery says One Man United player really impressed Him despite their loss
Unai Emery was left rueing a ‘fantastic’ Andre Onana performance as Manchester United secured a massive 2-1 win away at Premier League high-flyers Aston Villa.
In the build-up to Sunday’s clash, Emery warned his Aston Villa team to be wary of Andre Onana’s renowned passing range, the £47 million summer signing from Inter Milan the genesis of so many Manchester United attacks these days.
At Villa Park, however, Onana showed another side to his game. One that, during a difficult first few months in England, had been the subject of fair few criticisms.
There was to be no high-profile blunders this time, Onana’s virtuoso performance between the sticks reminiscent of David de Gea at his Premier League peak as he laid the foundations for a win which could – could – spark United’s belated top-four charge.
Andre Onana shines in big Aston Villa win
“We speak about the result, and we are frustrated,” Emery sighs. “We were being successful here at home in a lot of matches, playing a lot of matches worse than we played tonight against Manchester United.
“(Villa) created chances but we weren’t clinical. Their goalkeeper played a fantastic match and we lost a very good opportunity.”
Onana made eight saves on the afternoon, denying Ollie Watkins from point-blank range not once but twice. The one-time Ajax stopper also performed his ‘sweeper-keeper’ role impeccably, while commanding his penalty area with supreme confidence.
This was, with the possible exception of that 0-0 draw at Liverpool, his finest performance in United colours.
Onana was voted as man of the match by Manchester United fans, winning amid a tightly contested field.
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“The plan before the match, we were speaking about in the dressing room and the players did it. Sometimes it was goalkeeper (why we didn’t score). Sometimes we weren’t clinical,” Emery adds.
“We conceded a few chances to score. But they are Manchester United and they have very good players. We have to be proud of our work, proud of our supporters, and we are fifth in the league.
“We lost a very good opportunity today to do a bigger gap with them but we keep going.”
Rasmus Hojlund opened the scoring early on, netting in a fifth straight game, while Scott McTominay’s box-crashing winner off the bench shortened the gap between United and Villa to just five points.
