COMMENT: He could be the most important player in this Manchester United team. The one to set the tempo. To inspire his teammates. And to involve the Old Trafford crowd. It's time for Erik ten Hag to unleash Andre Onana...

Onana? The goalkeeper? Yes. As crazy as it sounds, this is the game today. It's not Casemiro. Nor Christian Eriksen. Not even Bruno Fernandes. Ten Hag has his quarterback sitting in an even deeper position. With a keeper of Onana's ability in possession, it's become more and more clear this season that how United play, the speed, the intent, it's coming more and more through the Cameroonian.

The win at Everton. The draw with Liverpool. Both games were bore-offs. United killed both matches - with Onana the biggest influence. Sitting on the ball. Soaking up time. Playing it short with his defence. Onana set the tempo and tone of both games. Just as he has for the entire season. The complaints from critics of United's style of play being disjointed - even directionless - you can level at the keeper. Ten Hag - and Onana - will argue it's part of the possession game the Dutchman demands. From back to front. Suck the opposition in. Pass through them. And find your way forward.

And to be fair, it can work. And it can be pleasing on the eye. But it can be so, so much better - if Onana is backed by his manager.

Need proof? Just consider the recent draw with Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham. It was a thriller. Four goals shared. End-to-end. A hatful chances created for both teams. For the way United played. Indeed, for the way their goalkeeper forced them to play... At times, this column thought we'd been taken back to the Fergie era.

Of course, this was tactical. Intentional. With Spurs known to press high up, Onana was instructed - via hand or foot - to release the ball early. The plan being to overcome that first line of players pressing the home defence. Suddenly, we were watching a real United game. For the first time in years, we were actually witnessing the home wingers flying, one-on-one, against their fullback. Time and again, Onana - either with a raking long pass or powerful throw - managed to isolate Alejandro Garnacho with Spurs fullback Destiny Udogie down the right flank. It was exciting. A thrill. And Old Trafford came alive. It was Peter Schmeichel setting Andrei Kanchelskis or Ryan Giggs on their bike and away...

With the crowd up. With United's players alive to Onana's attacking intent. On their toes. Making their runs. The place was heaving. This was the United experience. How it should always be. And it all came through the goalkeeper.

Not since the time of Schmeichel have United had such an attacking weapon. With his aggression. Even anger. The Dane could do it on his own. Always alert and alive to a long throw to one of his wingers, Schmeichel was encouraged by Sir Alex Ferguson to risk and move the ball quickly. It created danger for the opposition. It kept his teammates on their toes. And it brought the United support into the game. As much as the memories of Schmeichel are a catalog of wonder saves, it's also his furious, aggressive long throws to a darting Giggs or Lee Sharpe which quickly come to mind.

Onana has a similar ability - but more. After the eras of David de Gea and Edwin van der Sar, United have a goalkeeper with the skillset to lift teammates and fans as an attacking force. Bringing Onana in from Inter Milan wasn't about having a keeper who can safely trap the ball and pass accurately to a teammate. Onana is more than that. Much more. And the performance against Tottenham proved it.

For United fans who witnessed that Spurs game, its surely a struggle to recall the last time they saw Garnacho running at full speed with the ball thrown out in front him. You actually feared for his hamstrings! But this would be a regular occurrence back in Schmeichel's day. It was the United Way.

The ball might've come back as quickly as Schmeichel released it. But the Dane would back himself to keep out any opposition effort. After all, that's what he and his back four were paid to do.

As we say, this is no knock on Ten Hag's approach. The style can work. But as a United manager, sometimes you just need to go helter-skelter. To lift the players. The fans. Indeed, there'll be no body language complaints aimed at Marcus Rashford if he knows Onana's first orders are to find him with a quick, long throw. It just changes everything. The energy in the players. The electricity from the crowd.

Roberto De Zerbi, the Brighton manager, this week spoke at length with Cronache di Spogliatoio, including his thoughts of how the use of the goalkeeper has changed in modern football.

“We struggled against Manchester City because they relied a lot on the goalkeeper," said the Italian. "When you face a team that plays man-on-man, you can only play long balls, or pass it to the goalkeeper.

"[Gian Piero] Gasperini was the first one to do so [use the goalkeeper]. He is the best coach for man-on-man coverage; he was the first to use it, and he still is the best. I think he has already realised that goalkeepers will be an important weapon in the future."

Ten Hag and United have their own "important weapon". All the manager needs to do is unleash and back the attacking talent of Andre Onana.