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Manchester United’s manager, Ruben Amorim, has confirmed that Altay Bayindir will be in the starting line-up for their FA Cup third round match against Arsenal. Despite his criticised performance in the 4-3 quarter-final defeat to Tottenham, the Turkish international will return to the pitch at the Emirates Stadium. Manchester Evening News readers are mostly in support of seeing fresh legs on the pitch, although some feel Onana is the better bet.
“Altay is going to play,” stated Amorim. The Red Devils, who won their 13th FA Cup last season, have only been eliminated at the third round stage three times in the past four decades.
This will be Amorim’s first time managing the club in this competition, and he fondly recalled United’s victory in 1999. With a rare week-long gap between matches following their 2-2 draw with Liverpool at Anfield, Amorim emphasised that the team has been focusing on set-piece defending in preparation for the Arsenal match.
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He explained: “I don’t rotate because I want to rotate. I’m trying to find the best solutions to win every game. Sometimes I have doubts about which player to put and then I put the guy who is more fresh to cope with the demands of the game.”
Commenter Yorkie53 says: “I take it Ruben doesn’t want to win this cup. Playing a reserve keeper that looked a bag of nerves last time out tells me this manager is obsessed with rotation. End of a cup run me thinks”
Tankjr replies: “I think he wants to know if his last outing was just a bad day or a sign of needing to sign another keeper while the window is open, or possibly putting him in the shop window if he’s already decided on a backup keeper to come in.”
Leonard1968 adds: “Smart move. If we lose he can say we played it fairly – same goalie who faced Spurs in the League Cup Q/F. If we beat the Gunners it will make the win sweeter.”
RedIsRed states: “Onana has had more second chances than anyone in football. Why not give the lad a game? They said Arteta was mad when he persisted with Raya over Ramsdale. Players have got to get games. We re-called a young keeper this week so Amorim is working on more competition between the keepers. All good and as it should be.”
Footballstan agrees: “What’s surprising about a manager choosing a back up keeper in a cup game? I think the lad deserves a chance, at least a run of three or four games to see what he’s made of.”
Homi is unhappy with the decision: “If the idea is to lose games, then use Bayindir, even if Onana is not the best, the best chance to win against Arsenal is using Onana. At this point a relegation to second league is probably necessary as a wake call for all MU involved.”
Red93 agrees: “More evidence that Amorim doesn’t have a clue what he is doing in my opinion. We caught Liverpool on a rare off-day last week, and I doubt we will be so lucky against Arsenal, with our recent record against The Emirates.”
Red-since-85 adds: “After beating Man City, we went back to playing badly again and lost to smaller teams. Now after the good result against Liverpool we should be trying at all costs to build momentum from that, and that in my opinion should mean as few changes as possible – not the right time to experiment with the second choice keeper, albeit Onana is not perfect either, but still more of a presence than Bayindir.”
Jungle Jerry sees it differently: “I support Amorim on this decision. He has to see Bayindir in action again before deciding whether to keep him or not. It may seem like a big risk but every game is a risk, isn’t it? I’m more concerned with the rest of the team! We have no deep lying playmaker. Fernandes blows hot and cold. Our wing backs aren’t really wing backs. We don’t create enough sure chances. Højlund takes too many shots to score. Zirkzee isn’t a striker. And we have no back up for most of the positions. Amorim hasn’t even started trying the younger players in games. I do expect a tight game though.”
Do you think Amorim has made the right choice? Would you rather see Onana play Arsenal? Have your say in our comments section.