Before you can even determine that you have to look at what a good goalkeeper is. What skill makes them great? Is it elite shot stopping, penalty saving ability, elite sweeping, comfortable with their feet or high claims?
In my view, elite shot stopping is the basic marker of a good goalkeeper. Think of David De Gea. While he was weak at basically everything else, his shot stopping ability was among the best if not the best in the world. All his weaknesses were usually covered by an elite defense and a free scoring attack. When these players left Man Utd, De Gea’s weaknesses were highlighted. Suddenly, he looked like an average goalkeeper.
The same happened to Ederson. He has never been an elite shot stopper, but a magician with his feet. For years, Manchester City covered his weaknesses through their high possession gameplay. As a result, Ederson faced fewer shots on his goal giving the illusion of a great goalkeeper. As Man City has lost many of its best game controllers, the more Ederson got exposed for his poor shot stopping.
Therefore, if I were to build, not the perfect goalkeeper, but the most functional I would go for elite shot stopping, good penalty saving ability, comfortable with their feet, basic sweeping and elite ability to claim high balls in their box.
A good goalkeeper is the foundation of every high achieving team.
This brings me to an argument I was having with @Belemo a few weeks ago after Manchester United lost to Grimbsy. He was of the opinion that Man Utd should have beaten Grimbsy very easily despite the goalkeeping errors. While I agree with that assessment, I countered his argument by insisting that you cannot outscore bad goalkeeping.
It is my view that a bad goalkeeper demoralizes the entire team.
The defense is always jittery, which is why our defenders always look uncomfortable, especially from corners. Our midfielders cannot support the attack with freedom because they feel that every turnover could lead to a goal. The strikers are under pressure to perform, which is why they shoot from range most of the time.
The Grimsby game is a fantastic example because it demonstrates that if you have a bad goalkeeper, your team cannot afford to have a bad game. We were already 2 goals down in the first 30 minutes through Onana’s goalkeeping errors.
Contrast that with the game against Arsenal. We were far the better side but a resolute defense and a quality goalkeeper ensured out attempts on goal were nullified. Meanwhile, all it took for them to score was yet another goalkeeping error, where a weak attempt by Altay Bayindir to claim a cross allowed the ball to land on Calafiori’s head.
I conclude by saying, A Good Defense Creates a Good Attack. We are yet to see just how much of an improvement Senne Lammens is on Onana or Bayindir, but he definitely can’t be worse.
I think Onana is just a scapegoat of Amorim's failure. I do understand that he has made a lot of high profile errors and as a GK, his errors are more expensive but I believe he deserved as much benefit of doubt as everyone else.
United finished 15th, Onana was shit and got dropped but nobody is coming after Bruno, De Ligt and the other people that were shite and led to the 15th place.
Goalkeepers have a very sad role. No one remembers them when they do their job and they get scapegoated whenever they make a mistake.
You can't outscore goalkeeping errors but I still maintain that even with those two errors, a premier league team should be outscoring Grimsby. It had whether it is Manchester United or Burnley.
United didn't finish 15th purely because of Onana. Not only did we change managers mid season but we changed how we played. On top of that we had a young and weak forward line that barely scored.
However, Onana had 2 seasons where he proved he wasn't good enough. Not only did he throw us out of the Champions League, literally throwing the ball into his own net, despite United scoring for fun, but last season his mistakes made it impossible to win games.
You will be reminded that Arteta turned over Leno and then Ramsdale because they cost Arsenal games.
Yeah, now that you mentioned Ramsdale, I get what you mean. I guess I'm just not happy about the way United have gone about it because Onana seems like a nice guy.
When all United fans are in agreement that the goalkeeper needs replacing, just know he was pure ass.