Schmeichel: Onana made it easy for Awoniyi

by Staff Reporter

Sunday Aug 27, 2023. 15:09

Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel has criticised Andre Onana for making it easy for Taiwo Awoniyi to open the scoring for Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Onana reunited with former Ajax head coach Erik ten Hag when he joined the Red Devils for an initial £43.8 million fee from Inter Milan in July and made his Premier League debut in a 1-0 win against Wolves on August 14.

The Cameroonian goalkeeper was one of United’s best players in their opening two matches of the new season, but his performance came into question for the visit of the Reds.

Awoniyi silenced the home crowd when he raced away from Rafael Varane and Antony from the halfway line to advance into the box before beating Onana with ease from close range after just two minutes.

The former Indomitable Lions shotstopper, who retired from international football in December 2022, flopped to the ground which allowed the Forest striker to pick out the bottom right corner of the net.

Speaking to Premier League Productions after United’s 3-2 win, Schmeichel said: “I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing for the first goal. So many mistakes and so much went wrong.

“First of all, we’ve got [Marcus] Rashford and [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka. Wan-Bissaka is actually the furthest one back for Manchester United here. I have never seen that before in my life.

“Then you leave that space there, that means if the ball goes into that space, not a Manchester United player, and it does. Wan-Bissaka doesn’t win a header, Rashford doesn’t win the tackle, he’s as quick as Awoniyi and then Onana, I don’t know what Onana is doing there. He makes it easy for Awoniyi.”