Ruben Amorim has been told to drop a ‘useless’ Manchester United star for the rest of the season by former Chelsea boss George Burley.
United lost their first league match of the season to Arsenal 1-0 at home. Although they didn’t play poorly, they lost because of another goalkeeper error.
At Old Trafford last month, Altay Bayindir was at fault for the early goal by Riccardo Calafiori, which proved to be the difference between the two.
Bayindir blunders are costing United
This is not the first time Bayindir has been at fault from an opposition set-piece, and the Turkey international was only able to palm a Declan Rice corner into Calafiori’s path.
Son Heung-Min scored a direct goal from a corner in December in the EFL Cup, and the former Fenerbahce player gave up a “Olympic Goal.”
Since David De Gea was let go, United has struggled to find a goalkeeper, and Andre Onana has also had trouble winning over supporters after joining from Inter.
In order to increase Amorim’s goalkeeping alternatives, United also acquired young Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp during the summer transfer window, and Onana has been linked to a loan move to Trabzonspor.
And Amorim has been told by Burley that Bayindir should no longer be an option between the United sticks, with the Scot pointing to the goalkeeper’s weakness from set-pieces as a case in point.
“Altay Bayindir, they can’t play him. He might be okay at shot-stopping, which is what goalkeepers are paid for, but he’s absolutely useless at dealing with balls in from set-pieces,” Burley told ESPN.
“This new lad [Lammens] needs to be able to marshal a back four, make saves and have an authority and make a statement at set-pieces.
“That’s what every team is going to do against United now, they’re going to launch balls into the box and the goalkeeper needs to be able to deal with it. He’s either going to sink or swim. We don’t really know how he’s going to handle this scenario.”
Onana has got “worse” at United
Burley was also critical of Onana, adding: “[Onana] another player who’s gone to Manchester United and got worse. He cost a lot of money but he wasn’t able to marshal a back four.
“I thought Onana would be the real deal, it looked that way in Italy. I thought he might have a Peter Schmeichel-esque aura about him and boss about players but it hasn’t happened. If this new, youngish lad comes in and starts flapping about all over the place, it’s going to be a mess.”
Lammens is expected to come in as first choice at Old Trafford, but former Watford and England goalkeeper Ben Foster believes the 23-year-old was a “panic buy”.
On Lammens, Foster said: “I’ve watched a lot of videos of him [Lammens] on YouTube… and he looks on the eye test like he’s a competent goalkeeper. I’m yet to see what he’s like with the ball at his feet though and I think he’s a panic buy.
“United have probably always got some sort of list of goalkeepers that they look at and they keep tabs on. There will be scouts all over the world… but I don’t think they’ve done an in-depth analysis. A deadline day goalkeeper signing tells me that your club is desperate.”
United face a tough return to domestic duties next weekend as they travel to rivals Manchester City before welcoming Chelsea the following week.
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