Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim insisted he needed to allow Andre Onana to “disconnect” after dropping the goalkeeper for the Red Devils’ trip to Newcastle on Sunday. Onana cost his side two goals during the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final clash with Lyon on Thursday night as the Premier League side were held to a 2-2 draw in France.
Onana didn’t even make it onto the bench at St James’ Park as his understudy Altay Bayindir lined up between the posts. But Bayindir was then guilty of making a major error against the Magpies as he miskicked a pass to Joelinton, who headed the ball into the path of Bruno Guimaraes as the Brazilian netted the hosts’ fourth goal of the match. That goal wrapped up a 4-1 win for Newcastle, with the Red Devils suffering their 14th league defeat of the campaign.
Ahead of the clash in the north east, Amorim was asked about his decision to drop Onana as he spoke to Sky Sports. And the Portuguese boss explained: “It is a normal thing. Sometimes, you have to push the player to play again, sometimes you have to let him disconnect a little bit.
“Tomorrow, he will be in training to prepare for the next one [against Lyon] so I felt that it was a good time for Andre to disconnect.
“I think he was okay [about it] because I explained and then, you don’t need to like [it], but you understand because I explain every situation. It’s a normal situation. You have to manage everything, sometimes people just look at the physical aspect but the mental aspect is really, really important.
“It’s for just one game and we give Altay an opportunity. He deserves it also and then, again, tomorrow is a new life and we will prepare for the next one.”
Bayindir was torn apart for his error after the match as United hero Roy Keane analysed his misplaced pass. And the former midfielder stated: “It’s too risky, it’s absolutely too risky. There are players around you.
“At the highest level, the real top players, it’s about your decision-making. I’m quick to defend goalkeepers when they first come into the team because I think it does take five, six, seven games to get up to speed with the shots.
“But that basic mistake there, honestly I can’t understand it because this is top level, this is big boy stuff. Newcastle are flying, you do your own homework on who you’re playing.
“If you’re going to go long or you’re going to chip it, make sure you go too far. Then at least it’s up the pitch, you can argue afterwards. If you lose it there, someone is in on goal on top of you. That’s just common sense.”
Amorim was later asked whether he had a difficult decision on his hands over whether to recall Onana for the second leg of the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday in light of Bayindir’s mistake.
And the former Sporting manager said: “As a coach you have to make difficult decisions but for me it’s one more decision.
“Thursday is going to be a different game, a different competition, so let’s focus on the future. It’s really important for our club to do the same thing. Tomorrow we are going to train for the next one.”
