Former Red Devil Siobhan Chamberlain gives prediction for United’s season, Ten Hag’s future, Onana and player of the season

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain spoke exclusively to Ladbrokes: Fanzone about the Red Devils’ season, Andre Onana, Scott McTominay and manager Erik ten Hag.

Top four out of the question for United

I think that an FA Cup run is huge for Manchester United this season, especially when you remember they’re now out of the Carabao Cup and the Champions League. Yes, a cup win doesn’t necessarily tell the story of your performance across a season, but it gives the fans a great day out, it gives you some silverware and that’s what fans want.

I don’t think they can get top four this season, I think they’ve left it too late. They’ve lost too many games and dropped too many points already, and there are a lot of good teams quite simply performing better than them in the league at the moment. Then you look at those next European places. You know, do they really want a Europa Conference League spot? I don’t know. It’ll be interesting to see how things progress, but there’s just so much uncertainty at the moment. People are unsure of the direction the club is heading, with so much going on off the pitch. I think the club just needs a bit of stability and a bit of direction, to be honest.

Onana needs to alleviate pressure

I think [Andre] Onana will be frustrated with his own performances this season. Not all of them. He’s had some good games, he’s made some big saves, he’s distributed well and he’s commanded from the back. But there have been probably too many moments for a top goalkeeper where mistakes have been made which have ultimately led to goals conceded, and that costs you, as a player and as a team. European football-wise, it’s cost them, as well. It’s not always just on the goalkeeper. At times it’s been the team as a collective, but it’s the goalkeeper that often shoulders that responsibility.

But I definitely think he’s growing into the role. You look at David de Gea, when he first got into the first team, yes he was a lot younger than Onana, but it took him a while to really find his feet and develop into a Premier League player. Onana is older and more experienced and so typically you would expect him to adapt quicker, but for me, I think he needs to take away the pressure that you can see he’s feeling.

When you’re a goalkeeper who has come in with this huge expectation on your shoulders, when you’re hearing people talk about how brilliant you are with the ball at your feet, and all of that kind of thing, you can’t help but step onto that pitch with that pressure in your head. You’re thinking ‘I’ve got to do this’ or ‘I’ve got to do that’. And if that’s not going perfectly well, it detracts from everything else. Sometimes it’s about stripping everything back and really going back to the basics. Making saves, being tidy with your handling, making tidy distributions, then the rest can build from that. But I think that sometimes the pressure of being a goalkeeper at Man United, and the fear of making mistakes, can get to you and that can spiral into chaos.

McTominay looks like he’s meant to be playing in this role

Scott McTominay is the player who has impressed me most at Man United this season. I think he’s been brilliant for them. Harry Maguire is another who gets mentioned a lot. Obviously he went from not playing for them at all, having the captaincy taken from him, and it really looked like he wasn’t wanted at the club. Scott McTominay can be put in a similar bracket to that. Yet he’s knuckled down and you can see the mentality and the character of both of those two players, not to let things get to them, not to sulk. They’ve really been professional with their attitude and their application.

I think it helps that they were both playing international football and both still trusted by their international managers, and both performing well internationally. Scott McTominay was scoring goals for Scotland, and Harry Maguire was putting in good performances for England, and I think that’s kept their belief high, and it’s kept them working hard and they’re reaping the rewards now, because they’re probably United’s two best players from the first half of the season.

Scott McTominay is probably playing in a slightly more advanced position than he’s been used to in the past, having a little bit more freedom. But when you watch him play now, he looks like he’s meant to be playing in that role, rather than any deeper on the pitch. He’s really driving that team forward from that role.

As forwards, as attacking players, you’re judged on your numbers in front of goal. You’re judged on your contributions, and none of Manchester United’s forwards are living up to those expectations right now. Rasmus Hojlund has done well in the Champions League, but he’s only scored once in the Premier League. You can carry one player, you can maybe carry two players, who aren’t in form, who aren’t scoring, so long as you’ve got someone who is scoring week in, week out, like Marcus Rashford was last season. But at the moment, that entire front line is not performing anywhere near what we’d expect them to be. They’re not scoring goals, they’re not assisting each other, so that is a concer not only for Erik ten Hag, but also for the players themselves. I’m sure they’ll be trying their utmost to get themselves back in form. If you’re after the answer to that conundrum, how to get yourself back scoring goals, I’m the wrong person to ask as a goalkeeper!

Don’t judge Ten Hag yet

Erik ten Hag needs time, and time isn’t something that is always given to managers, particularly at the top clubs – we all know that. But look at the players he’s been without. Has he ever been able to play what would even come close to his strongest side? He hasn’t. Key players have been missing for massive chunks of his time with the club, Luke Shaw returning from injury is huge for them. Lisandro Martinez, at the back, is a key player for them. Raphael Varane will only play if Martinez is alongside him, which is a weird dynamic in itself, how that’s panning out. And then, for me, the big one is Casemiro. He was brilliant when he came in last season, and I definitely think they’ve missed him in midfield.

I don’t know whether he’ll ever have every player fit and available, but once he’s got a strong contingent back in the first team, I think that’s when you can start judging the manager a little bit more. Until then, I think he deserves the time. It’s a difficult job to go into. You’ve seen the amount of managers they’ve gone through since Sir Alex Ferguson. You can’t just keep changing your manager; you need to back him and trust what he’s building and where he’s taking the club.