War of the words - did Matic mind games get to Onana?

Since joining Manchester United in summer 2023, Andre Onana has made more mistakes in all competitions than any other Premier League goalkeeper

War of the words, power of the press conference. In what felt like a trade of verbal blows from a bygone era, Lyon midfielder Nemanja Matic's jibe that Andre Onana is "one of the worst goalkeepers" in Manchester United history set the tone for Thursday's Europa League meeting.

Onana was then at fault for both Lyon's goals in his side's 2-2 draw in the quarter-final first leg - just a day after those comments from former Red Devils player Matic.

It means that since the start of last season, Onana has made eight errors leading to goals in all competitions, the most of any keeper playing for a Premier League club.

Boss Ruben Amorim looked to take the spotlight off his goalkeeper by suggesting he is the one who has made more mistakes than his players this season.

But there is no avoiding the questions - did Matic's comments affect Onana's performance on Thursday night? Was playing mind games his intention all along? And how does Onana rebuild his confidence before facing Lyon again next week?

"If you get another high-profile player who comes out with a comment like that, despite how much shielding they do, he is going to know it," says chartered psychologist Dr Simon Moore.

"They're all on social media, they have all got phones and he is not going to be able to avoid it. It will get in his head, because no matter how hard he tries to park it and move on, it will bug him.

"The other thing is, you get this reaction of 'well I am going to go out and show everybody that I don't make mistakes and I am over it'. And that puts even more pressure and duress on you to achieve that."

What did Matic say?

At a news conference on Wednesday, Matic was asked about Onana's comments from earlier this week that United were "way better" than French club Lyon.

Serbian Matic, who played for United from 2017-2022, responded: "You know, I respect everyone but to say that then you need to give the answer.

"If you are one of the worst goalkeepers in Manchester United's history, you need to take care what you're talking about.

"If it was [Edwin] Van der Sar, [Peter] Schmeichel or [David] De Gea saying that, then I would question myself. But you need to have cover to say something like that."

Onana then posted on social media to deny he was being disrespectful.

"I would never be disrespectful to another club. We know that tomorrow will be a difficult game against a strong opponent," Onana said on X.

"We focus on preparing a performance to make our fans proud.

"At least I've lifted trophies with the greatest club in the world. Some can't say the same."

'Matic is going to sleep well'

"He was in the headlines before the game and now he is going to be all over the headlines again," said former England winger Aaron Lennon on BBC Radio 5 Live following Onana's errors against Lyon.

"I think he looks a bit silly tonight and Matic is probably the one who is going to sleep well," added former Lyon and England midfielder Izzy Christiansen.

Moore, who co-hosts the What's Your Goal podcast alongside former England midfielder Katie Chapman, says the brain is wired to pay specific attention to risk, threat and mistakes from an "ego, status and reputation point of view".

"Given the fact he is a goalkeeper at a very famous club and there is a lot of pressure on shoulders anyway within that team, they have had a lot of negative media throughout the year, he is going to have a double whammy effect," Moore says.

"What you are doing is signalling to your brain, rather than 'how can I do well?', is 'how can I avoid a mistake?'."

Matt Shaw is a chartered sports psychologist at InnerDrive, who work with players from senior internationals to academy level.

"We often talk about external noise and trying to limit it as much as possible," says Shaw. "In some sense, it could be a coincidence those comments were made and then he had a poor performance.

"You might look at other times this season where no comments were made and he had good or bad performances after that as well."

Shaw says what is being said off the pitch can often be "overhyped" because of its importance to fans and the media, rather than the players themselves.

"A lot of these guys, it is water off a duck's back," he explains. "When it does impact players it's really interesting, because we often forget they are experts in what they do - experts can have poor performance - but also in terms of how they handle those situations.

"You see Onana pre-match going straight up to the fans in front of the net, where it looked like it didn't really affect him at all. It can affect these guys, but often it doesn't.

"When we are working with players, we are working with them all the time and trying to keep them at a baseline. It is easy to draw a straight line and say lots of stuff happened pre-match and he went on to make mistakes that led to goals. Whereas the chances are, once the game starts, it is very unlikely that is in his mind because he has way more to focus on.

"What we always want is players thinking in a helpful way, what do they need to think about and focus in order to perform well? Obviously comments beforehand about being United's poorest goalkeeper aren't the comments we want him thinking about. But I would be surprised if those were in his mind."

How does Onana move on?

So what can Onana, and United's backroom staff, do to help focus him going forward?

"I would remind him of all the positive things he's been doing, bombard him with all the clips," says Moore. "He's a great stopper, his reflexes are amazing, so remind him.

"That will give him confidence, and then maybe play the clips back and say these are areas we need to work on.

"Football is a creative sport, that is great for the fan because you get lots of exciting moments, but creativity also means you are going to fail a lot - that is the nature of creativity. He has got to accept he is an industry that oscillates between 'wow' moments and moments you make mistakes."

Shaw says, after a debrief, it is about focusing on the action plan going forwards.

"And then it's about going into training and practising those things or stripping it all the way back to 'OK, what am I good at? What is the part of the game that makes me who I am as a goalkeeper?' and just focusing on those things instead," he adds.

The one-week turnaround before facing Lyon in the second leg may seem tight, but Shaw says in football terms that is plenty of time to move on - and Manchester United have another game, at Newcastle on Sunday, to think about first anyway.

"The goalkeeper team will be quite tight," he adds.

"They will be getting around him and then really going back to what they enjoy doing in training and just trying to make sure he is successful in training so it builds some confidence over the course of the week, as well as having those conversations about what we do differently next time.

"In any of our walks of life, if something goes wrong, we expect people to get around us, having a little bit of a debrief with a focus on being better next time as opposed to not being good enough - then really just focusing on the things that make him a good goalkeeper and trying to expose those throughout the week."