LONDON: Ruben Amorim has defended Manchester United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir after their 1-0 defeat at Arsenal last night and insisted Riccardo Calafiori’s winning goal should have been disallowed.
Amorim chose Bayindir over Andre Onana for the Premier League opener against Arsenal, but the Turkiye goalkeeper made a mistake when he was too easily beaten by William Saliba, allowing Calafiori to head home an easy goal.
Bayindir’s performance has added to Manchester United’s problems at the goalkeeper position over the past few seasons.
Onana has also made a big mistake, leading to speculation that The Red Devils may be looking for a new main goalkeeper this summer.
Amorim was asked about the matter after the match at Old Trafford, but he defended Bayindir and suggested the goal should have been disallowed.
Amorim was asked if he was now thinking of replacing Bayindir with Tom Heaton, to which he replied sarcastically: “Why? But (Altay) conceded a goal like this, where?”
A reporter replied: “Spurs.”
Amorim added: “Without VAR. With VAR, it was a mistake. Then what happened in the next game? Arsenal. Altay played very well. I consider all aspects to choose who to play.
“When you touch the goalkeeper in that way, he has to use his hands to catch the ball, not push the player. Or if he chooses to push the player, then the ball will go away.
“If it’s allowed, we have to do the same. He chose to get the ball, so he couldn’t defend himself.”
When pressed about Onana’s absence from the squad, Amorim replied: “I’m not dropping Onana from the squad. It’s not a question of continuing to play Onana with just a week of training, without matches, without enough time to train. I’m happy with the three goalkeepers we have.”