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Man Utd ace has been the clear MVP this season, Erik ten Hag would be in an embarrassing position without him
Manchester United have had a stuttering start to the 2024/25 season but there has been one clear standout performer who has prevented Erik ten Hag from embarrassment.
After an eighth-place finish last season, Ineos conducted a season review which resulted in Erik ten Hag being kept on as the Manchester United manager.
Ten Hag may have been kept on, but this was far from a permanent thing and he had to show serious improvements this season in order to win over Ineos fully.
However after six Premier League games, United have lost three which has ignited further debate over the managerial future at the club heading toward the October international break.
Manchester United sit 12th in the Premier League table, although without one player being in excellent form, things could have been a lot worse.
Andre Onana has been Manchester United’s MVP this season
So far through the 2024/25 campaign, United have struggled with scoring goals and also keeping them out with eight conceded and only five scored already.
Andre Onana however has prevented things from being even worse as in terms of expected goals conceded – United should have actually conceded 13.1.
Expected goals against (xGA) in the Premier League 24/25
| # | Team | Games Played | GA | xGA |
| 1 | Leicester | 6 | 12 | 16.30 |
| 2 | Ipswich | 6 | 10 | 14 |
| 3 | Southampton | 6 | 12 | 13.28 |
| 4 | Manchester United | 6 | 8 | 13.1 |
| 5 | Everton | 6 | 15 | 12.98 |
As seen in stats presented by Under Stat, United has been appalling defensively, conceding the xGA that we would expect to see from relegation candidates.
This highlights Onana’s importance to the team, with United having the biggest differential between xGA and GA (5.1).
To make matters more impressive, despite facing so many chances from opponents, Onana has a joint league-leading clean sheet tally at three – tied with Alisson and David Raya.
Erik ten Hag is being saved by Onana
This season so far, Onana has faced 26 shots on target and has made 18 saves which is a handy tally when taking into account the quality of chances he has had to face.
Against Spurs for example, Onana denied Timo Werner twice in one-on-one situations – keeping the scoreline from becoming an absolute embarrassment that may have resulted in an immediate sacking by Ineos.
Onana has also been better in his distribution this season, with an average pass accuracy of 81.1 per cent which ranks highly among his peers.
While things are bad for Ten Hag, he still might turn it around – but without Onana’s contribution he may have already ran out of time.
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