IN THE modern game, it seems all the best teams play out from the back.
But Ruben Amorim is going the other way – by getting his goalkeeper to hoof it long.
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Andre Onana was signed from Inter in 2023 due to his ability to play out from the back.
Yes, there have been some high-profile blunders along the way.
But by and large, Onana is confident with the ball at his feet.
However, the stats show he is being asked to kick it long far more – that passing short when under pressure is simply not worth the risk.
After all, United have lost the ball 142 times in their own defensive third this season – the sixth-most of the 20 top-flight teams.
As reported by The Athletic, Opta stats show only five goalkeepers have done more “launches” in the Premier League this season.
A “launch” is defined as a high ball – 40 yards of longer – into space or an area for players to chase or challenge.
Of those, only Dean Henderson has completed fewer than Onana’s 25.8 per cent of 380 punts upfield.
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Onana – a transfer target for Saudi Arabia – played most of his passes short in Amorim’s first game in charge, against Ipswich in November.
And even against Everton on February 22, he only made three launches.
But when United faced Arsenal on March 9, a team who press more than Everton, the Cameroonian stopper produced a whopping 29, the most under Amorim.
He has now averaged 20.4 launched passes in United’s last five matches – as opposed to six per game in the early days of Amorim’s reign.
In February, Amorim insisted he is not too regimented and set in his ways – and may have had his arm somewhat twisted by Lisandro Martinez’s injury.
The Portuguese said: “It’s not that I won’t adapt.
“We adapt.
“Sometimes we have short goal kicks and then sometimes long balls, because the opponent is pressing a lot.
“I try to adapt to the players we have.”
But are the long balls working?
Well, not massively.
Underfiring strikers Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have won just 22 and 29 per cent of their aerial duels this season – a drop on previous campaigns.
And Alejandro Garnacho, often a target for Onana’s hopeful kicks out wide, wins just nine per cent of his aerial challenges, one of the worst figures in the division for wingers.
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