Amadou Onana

[martin o`who??]

What’s Onana said?

Ask the bloke at Talksport.

Alan Brazil?

No it wasn't him. It was one of their reporters this morning. He didn't really expand on it any further but he seemed quite clued up and it worried me.

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

He said we're a tiny club and that we're the worst of all the claret and blue clubs. He even made a point to say how superior Scunthorpe are.

Edit: THE BASTARD.

[Ian.]

We need this "piece of shit' starting next Saturday.

Some unbeliveble shite chatted on this thread, Ethan fucking Ampadu for fucks sake.

It’s when we lose a match. It’s like some people have been taken over by the body snatchers.

[TCFKAE2]

so true... could do with a "lost game filter" that softens all posts for 24 hours after a loss

[danno]

What’s Onana said?

Ask the bloke at Talksport.

Alan Brazil?

Bloke not blimp

[PaulWinch again]

We need this "piece of shit' starting next Saturday.

Some unbeliveble shite chatted on this thread, Ethan fucking Ampadu for fucks sake.

Indeed - Onana is an excellent player, we just need him on the pitch. People mentioning Ampadu as remotely on the same level is bewildering.

The frustration from him not playing is because he’s really bloody good, and important. As for calling him a “piece of shit” - fucking hell.

[Nunkin1965]

We need this "piece of shit' starting next Saturday.

Some unbeliveble shite chatted on this thread, Ethan fucking Ampadu for fucks sake.

Indeed - Onana is an excellent player, we just need him on the pitch. People mentioning Ampadu as remotely on the same level is bewildering.

The frustration from him not playing is because he’s really bloody good, and important. As for calling him a “piece of shit” - fucking hell.

Post match reaction is fueled by frustration I think and there are some bizarre statements which is the same as any other fansite I'd guess.

[ROBBO]

The reality is that for some players we are not recognised as a top club more as a useful stepping stone. If we can qualify for European Championship and maybe win it a couple of times things may change, the problem is though that the powers that be have virtuallly ensured that this will never happen. Long live the top six.

[The Edge]

What’s Onana said?

Ask the bloke at Talksport.

Alan Brazil?

No it wasn't him. It was one of their reporters this morning. He didn't really expand on it any further but he seemed quite clued up and it worried me.

I also heard the comments that Onana is supposed to have said. It went something like "I hope to sign for a world class club one day" and said reporter implied that Onana was actively looking for a move. Nothing to substantiate the comments and I just took it as a cheap shot at Villa. Even if he did say it so what? I think we know we're not in the World Class bracket just yet!
What player wouldn't want to play for a Real Madrid or Barcelona etc? It proves he's ambitious which is a good thing imo.

[PeterWithesShin]

He said it as it was covered earlier in the thread.

[Ads]

I don't have a problem with us loving around players registrations willy nilly, I don't have a problem with a player thinking he'd like to play for a Real Madrid, Bayern or a Birmingham City.

[eye digress]

Onana doesn't play unless he's 100% fit. Which he rarely is.
As our most expensive signing & at a time when the rest of our midfield is injured, that's not good enough & something I'm sure will be dealt with in the summer.

You'd think that the medical staff might by now have worked out how best to manage his fitness, diet, etc. No doubt he's a class act  -and having a better version of Nzonzi, Billings, etc in our midfield to bully opponents is proven to be a good thing - but his hokey-kokey fitness is not something that is helping us right now. Who else is out there who can play the Toure / Ciacedo type role?

Probably beyond us but Camavinga doesn’t play as much as he’d want for Madrid. In hindsight a player like Gravenberch would have been great. Highly rated at Ajax but never got a sniff at Bayern and moved for relatively peanuts. Big physical unit who can do a bit of everything.

I’ve always been impressed by the chap at Roma who tends to keep Kamara out the French squad, moved from Germany. He’s that good I’ve forgot his name.

Koné. Good, honest player. Kamara is better, though.

[The Edge]

He said it as it was covered earlier in the thread.

Like I said I'm not too bothered even if he did say it. Every player should be ambitious enough to want to play at the very highest level.

[SaddVillan]

From The Athletic

AMADOU ONANA CAN BE THE GLUE TO HOLD ASTON VILLA’S MIDFIELD TOGETHER. AS LONG AS HE STAYS FIT

Amadou Onana’s usual whipping up of the crowd comes after every Aston Villa win.

He ventures towards the away supporters or, if in the comfort of the West Midlands, towards the Holte End.

Onana stretches both hands in front of him, waiting for the Villa supporters to build the anticipation. Once the “ohssss” are suitably loud, he will then punch the air three times and once more for luck.

Invariably, the club’s social media team post the video and, following particularly significant victories, with other team-mates starring, Onana punches the air with them joining in, sometimes in perfect synchronisation.

Onana has no problem being at the forefront of celebrations. He is a confident, eloquent 24-year-old who is willing to take on the responsibility and pressure of being Villa’s club-record signing. The £50million ($68m) fee does not faze him — he has intrinsic confidence in his skill set with the ambition to play in Europe’s eminent teams.

Couple his extroverted on-pitch personality and his, in theory, imposing 6ft 4in (195cm) frame that can be equally languid and driving in style, Onana should have all the characteristics to play among the elite.

“He has huge potential,” said Unai Emery earlier this season. “We signed him thinking not of the work he did before at Everton; we signed him thinking of how we can exploit his potential.

“Last year, with some injuries he had, it was a good season, but not really like I think we can get. This year, he is progressively getting better, but his best must come. He must be so, so aggressive and he has improved his mentality.”

Onana has shown marked improvements in specific elements. The Belgium international has started to utilise his physical traits, increasingly aggressive in duels and more willing to dominate his opponent.

There had been a feeling that Onana had all the attributes from a physical and technical standpoint, yet did not always maximise them. He can be a multi-faceted midfielder, allaying concerns from some close observers about his press resistance. He can serve as a deep-lying midfielder, an athletic No 8 or even a box-crasher.

Fundamentally, however, the recurring sticking point keeps coming back to injuries.

NFL coach Bill Parcells once said, “the best ability is availability”, and that sentiment rings true in Onana’s case.
He returned to Villa’s starting lineup for the 1-1 away draw to Bournemouth, having missed out a week before against Brentford due to what Emery described as “tiredness in his muscles.”

He had featured in 55 of 91 matches since arriving in July 2024 and has suffered seven separate injuries, five of them hamstring issues.

“The challenges he has are there,” Emery explained last week. “It is trying to be consistent. He is sometimes having small injuries — two, three, four weeks out at a time. He is very important. His potential is still there. When he’s playing 100 per cent, his performances have been fantastic and progressing a lot. In the last matches he’s played, he was really fantastic.”

The necessity of Onana staying fit has lately grown in importance. The triple injury blow of John McGinn, Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara — who has the best points-per-match ratio (2.43) of any Premier League player — has increased his dependency. Onana’s availability can no longer be a luxury.

“In two weeks, we are changing a lot in the middle,” Emery added. “Now we must again build our structure strong in the key position of the middle.”

Onana has spent time in the gym and with doctors to understand his injury problems and how best to manage the risks. His athletic gait, with long limbs and playing in a physically taxing position, can be prone to muscle issues. Away to Bournemouth, Onana was paired with Douglas Luiz for the first time, the man the former had been brought in to replace.

They worked at the base of midfield, tasked with winning their duels against Bournemouth’s aggressive, man-marking system and, in some ways linked, finding the feet of Morgan Rogers, who was frequently spare.

The tempo was hard and fast with turnovers aplenty. The midfield duo had to scrap while retaining composure of equal measure, so it was heartening for Douglas Luiz to have recorded the most passes of any player by half-time, with Onana completing the most by the final whistle.

The match illustrated Onana’s frailties and strengths. There were times when he was limping, having received a knock to the back of his leg, and there were other occasions when Onana would open up his stride and bypass his direct marker, Alex Scott, so effortlessly that it made you wonder why he does not do it all the time.

The former Everton midfielder had three midfield partners in the second half, with Ross Barkley and Lamare Bogarde filling in alongside as Emery shuffled his pack, attempting to invigorate his team. Villa had taken the lead in the first half through Morgan but toiled in the second, unable to play as incisively after Andoni Iraola tightened his midfield.

To his credit, Onana remained at the heart of the battle and was evidently key to Villa staving off Bournemouth’s set-play threat. 
Villa’s set-piece coach Austin MacPhee would bark “Yes, Ama!” before deliveries came into the box, with Onana heading away six times from corners or long throws. “He did a fantastic job,” Emery concluded.

This contributed to the midfielder making more defensive interventions than any player on the pitch. Villa had to lean on defensive resilience after Rayan dribbled past Lucas Digne’s ghost-like defending to level the scores. Emery’s side appeared strangely leggy, as if having a week between games caused more lethargy than looking well-rested.

The draw was not ideal, but could have been worse. The display and its second-half flatness underlined Onana’s value in serving as the glue to hold a new-look midfield together — provided he stays fit.

[tony scott]

I hope we can reach March without muscle fatigue or injury, He could make our season memorable.