Why David Seaman might be wrong about his Andre Onana and David Raya comparison
David Raya and Andre Onana have both had very different campaigns for their new clubs.
Despite David De Gea winning the 2022/23 Premier League Golden Glove and Aaron Ramsdale being named in the PFA Team of the Year, Erik ten Hag and Mikel Arteta both decided that they wanted a new goalkeeper between the sticks this season and duely signed David Raya and Andre Onana.
Raya, who arrived on loan from fellow side Brentford, eventually took Aaron Ramsdale’s place in the side in September and hasn’t looked back since. The 28-year-old became the first Arsenal goalkeeper since Petr Cech in 2015/16 and just the third Spanish keeper after Pepe Reina and David De Gea to win the Premier League Golden Glove with his 15 shutouts so far in 2023/24.
However, he has had his moments in the Arsenal goal with some big errors, most recently in the North London derby against Tottenham. Only Sheffield United’s Wes Foderingham (4) has been made more errors leading to goals in the Premier League this season than David Raya (3) and it’s something he will need to cut out next season if the Gunners want to be successful again.
Unlike, Raya, who came into an Arsenal side looking to win the Premier League title again after some astute summer signings, Andre Onana was brought in by Erik ten Hag when Manchester United were in transition.
Despite winning the EFL Cup, finishing third and reaching the FA Cup final last season, the Red Devils have really struggled in 2023/24, with Andre Onana being kept busy in his first season, much like his predecessor David De Gea was last season.
The Cameroonian has kept eight clean sheets, the fifth most in the division,but has also had to make 137 saves, with only Luton’s Thomas Kaminski (138) making more so far in the division in 2023/24. The 28-year-old has seen the ball hit the back of the net 55 times in his 35 Premier League appearances and 79 times across all competitions, with the 81 conceded by Man Utd as the whole, the most they have conceded in a single campaign since 1970/71 (82).
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Despite their different campaigns, England’s former number one David Seaman believes that the signings of Andre Onana and David Raya were both important.
“The goalkeepers were both massive signings.” he said in an interview with Betway.
“With David it was difficult for him at the start because he wasn’t used to the pressure of playing for Arsenal. Everybody spoke to me about his stats last season, but they were for Brentford. When he first came to Arsenal, he found it hard to get to grips with it but now he’s gone on to win the Golden Glove, and that’s a fantastic season for him. It just needs that little cherry on top with Premier League winners’ medal. Onana makes some good saves and he made some really bad mistakes. He needs to get more consistent, but his defence has been all over the place. There are tonnes of injuries. I do see a goalkeeper in there, but at the moment he is struggling to get consistency.”
David Raya may have claimed the Golden Glove while Andre Onana is on the verge of conceding the most goals in a single Premier League season for Manchester United, but a lot of the differences between the two come from the defences in front of them.
Manchester United have conceded 618 shots in the Premier League so far this campaign, with only Sheffield United (645), West Ham (620) and Luton Town (620) conceding more. This is a stark contrast to Arsenal, who have conceded just 304 shots – the second fewest in division, while when looking at shots on target faced, the Red Devils have faced a whopping 111 more than Mikel Arteta’s side.
When looking further into the numbers, you can see that despite David Seaman’s claims that Andre Onana has ‘made some really bad mistakes’, it’s actually David Raya who has made more errors leading to shots (5-2) and more errors leading to goals (3-1). Infact, the Cameroonian has a higher save percentage (by 11.06%) and prevented 5.29 more goals than the Arsenal man.
Although to be fair to David Seaman, he was spot on when he said “His defence has been all over the place. There are tonnes of injuries. I do see a goalkeeper in there”.
Full credit to the quotes used from David Seaman are given to Betway.com.
