‘He showed’ - Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag confirms major Andre Onana decision

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag insists he is happy with his goalkeeping situation at Old Trafford and has backed Andre Onana to bounce back after the summer signing came in for more criticism following a 3-2 home defeat to Galatasaray on Tuesday night.

With the score at 2-2 Onana gave the ball away to Dries Mertens who was then fouled inside the penalty area by Casemiro. The United midfielder was shown a second yellow card as Mauro Icardi missed the spot-kick but then claimed the winning goal as he chipped the ball over Onana after being put through by Davinson Sanchez.

Onana has endured a somewhat difficult start to his United career after joining in a £47m deal from Inter Milan in the summer. However, Ten Hag offered his backing to his goalkeeper after the defeat on Tuesday night.

He said: "We are happy with our goalkeeping group, definitely with Andre, and Andre was in one semi-finals of the Champions League, last season he was in a final of the Champions League, he has the capabilities to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

"He showed that and he will do. We have already seen in games his great capabilities, also his personality after he made a mistake. He will bounce back and I'm sure he will do in the coming games as well."

United sit bottom of their Champions League group following Tuesday evening’s loss as Bayern Munich came from behind to defeat Copenhagen 2-1 and remain top of Group A. Ten Hag’s men are back in action at home to Brentford on Saturday afternoon in their final game before the international break.

Reflecting on Tuesday’s defeat Ten Hag added: “Last season: brilliant, terrific, more than we could expect. We also knew in this project there would be common gaps. At this moment we are in a very difficult period as everyone can see but we come out together, we are fighting together, we are sticking together and we are behind each other. That is me, the directors, the team, all together we will fight.

“This is not us, we know we have to do better, with togetherness we will come out. If I give an explanation, then you will see as excuses, there are no excuses. We can’t make the errors we are now making. We have to do better, it is a simple fact, we have to win our games.”