Andre Onana is 'second-best goalkeeper in the Premier League'! Erik ten Hag passionately defends Man Utd No.1 after horrific Champions League error at Galatasaray

The Red Devils boss is using statistics to support that argument, with the Cameroonian shot-stopper sitting second on the English top-flight list when it comes post-shot xG minus goals allowed. No keeper has kept more cleans this season either than the five collected by a player that United snapped up for £48 million ($61m) during the summer transfer window.

Some serious questions have been asked of Onana, with costly errors blighting Premier League and Champions League performances, but Ten Hag has said of his last line of defence: “If you analyse it well then you see he is the second-best goalkeeper in the Premier League based on stats, his expected preventing goals is second-best in the Premier League. He's doing well but he knows that in the Champions League he has made some mistakes but all over in the first five months he has done well. You know also. Because you have seen how he is reacting on a bad performance like in Munich at Burnley he was outstanding. He is a strong character, he is a personality and he will deal with it.”

Onana gift-wrapped goals for Galatasaray during United’s 3-3 draw on Turkish soil, with the 27-year-old contributing to the dropping of points in Champions League competition that Ten Hag’s side can ill afford to let slip.

United will be back in domestic action on Saturday when taking in a testing trip to fellow top-four hopefuls Newcastle, with Onana hoping to rediscover a spark at St James’ Park that will help to end the criticism being aimed in his direction and allow definitive decisions to be made on whether or not he will head to the Africa Cup of Nations in January.