Ruben Amorim dropped Andre Onana from his Manchester United matchday squad to avoid the sort of ‘pressure’ Arsenal created when changing their goalkeepers.
Onana had not missed a single Premier League minute since he joined Manchester United from Inter for 47.2m pounds in summer 2023, but was dropped from not only the starting line-up but the bench for the game against Newcastle.
The keeper came in for criticism in midweek after following up a public rift with Lyon midfielder Nemanja Matic by making two high-profile mistakes in a Europa League quarter-final draw with the French side.
Altay Bayindir came into the side for his full Premier League debut and proceeded to entirely mess up the opportunity, capping a rough performance by chipping a ball 25 yards onto Joelinton’s head for Bruno Guimaraes to score.
Amorim explained after the game that he chose to promote Bayindir and leave Onana out of the side altogether to avoid the “pressure” of “the cameras”, and the sort of circus which followed Aaron Ramsdale when Mikel Arteta replaced him with David Raya.
“We are going to prepare to choose the best XI that we think can win,” he said. “I left him at home because any situation of the game, the cameras would be on him and he was not playing, he (would be) on the bench but feeling the pressure, feeling the moment.
“So, for me, it was one thing or another – you play or you stay at home. It was my choice.”
The manager went on to sagely pinpoint “mistakes” as the problem the Red Devils encountered against Newcastle.
“We did a lot of mistakes and they were better than us, stronger than us,” he said.
“Suffering the second goal in the beginning of the second half hurt us a lot and then we did mistakes during the game that helped Newcastle to win the game.
“It’s a team thing. We are doing a lot of mistakes in certain games that give confidence to the opponent, give goals, and then it’s hard to cope with everything.
“We had the first chance, we didn’t score, they have their chance, they score. Then they took control of the game. We scored to draw but then second half, we were suffering in the second play of the game, it’s hard for our team and we did a lot of mistakes.”
Amorim soon turned his attention to Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final second leg with Lyon – which Roy Keane mocked after the game.
“We have to start tomorrow. We cannot change this game, this performance, this season. We just need to think of the future, we have one competition that we can win a trophy and go to the Champions League next season.
