Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane accused his old team of being weak and soft after a howler from reserve goalkeeper Altay Bayindir handed Arsenal an opening weekend victory at Old Trafford in the Premier League.
Bayindir – preferred to number one Andre Onana who wasn’t even in the squad – flapped at a 15th minute corner to allow Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori to nod the ball in from a yard at the Stretford End. United were subsequently the better team but couldn’t equalise.
Afterwards United manager Ruben Amorim defender Bayindir and insisted the club were not looking to buy a new goalkeeper in the final two weeks of the transfer window.
But Keane pulled no punches in the SKY Studio and said: ‘If you’re the goalkeeper, just take control of the six-yard box.
‘Keepers and defenders complain all the time. ‘Oh people are on my face.’.
‘Well, you get in their face. The goalkeeper’s got to take control of that six-yard box. Focus on the ball. Be aggressive.
‘I’ve said it many times for a goalkeeper. Come with violence, come and be aggressive. That is your area. Take control of it.
‘Arsenal are very good at it. But Man United? Weak and soft.’
Bayindir made a similar mistake as United lost at Tottenham in the Carabao Cup last season.
But Amorim defended the 27-year-old Turk, saying: ‘That was without VAR. With VAR, it’s a foul.
‘In the next game at Arsenal Bayindir was unbelievable. So I consider everything.
‘I didn’t drop Onana from the squad. Guys like Tom Heaton and Bayindir, during the pre-season they did a good job.
‘I’m happy with the three goalkeepers.’
In terms of the goal, Amorim seemed to suggest goalkeepers are now in an impossible position when put under pressure from opponents at set pieces.
‘I think it’s allowed these days to do a lot of things in the corners so we need to do the same,’ the United manager said.
‘But when you touch the goalkeeper that way, he needs to use his hands to catch the ball, not push players. Or he chooses to push players and let the ball pass.
‘But again, it’s the rules. If it’s allowed, we need to do the same thing.’
Arsenal left Manchester with three points despite having not played well by their standards. Mikel Arteta accepted but this focussed on his players’ resilience.
‘I think we did two things very well, one to take the set-piece and then react to mistakes,’ said the Arsenal manager.
‘The way every single player reacted gives us the opportunity to win the game. If not, it’s impossible.
‘And that’s about how we compete and how much we want to do so.
‘This gives us momentum and confidence, two very important things. Because we know that when we know our standards high in certain aspects which today they weren’t, we can still come away and find a way to win the game.
‘And the team has to find that resilience throughout the season for ten months in different contexts.’
