Manchester United lost the opening Premier League match of the season against Arsenal to drive Reuben Amorim off to a bad start, but that could have been avoided
Chris McKenna is a boxing correspondent for the Daily Star, a professional voice on “sweet science” and a very experienced football reporter with a focus primarily on Merseyside giants Liverpool and Everton. He covered world title fights, Champions League finals, FA Cup finals and Premier League title winners all over the world.
They spent £200 million on the attack, but the outcome won’t improve if Jim Ratcliffe and CO can’t find another lump of cash to buy the keeper at the back.
Manchester United’s performance here is good and you might expect head coach Reuben Amorim to be less frightening than they were last season. It’s been a while since United dominated against one of the big boys in the Premier League.
But because of all the good plays, they didn’t score. New Buys Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, and Benjamin Sesko (who made his debut later) drew a blank space. It happens against the best teams, especially against defensively determined teams like Arsenal.
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What is not allowed, however, is to present a goal to the opposition parties, and Altai Bayindir did just that. The Turkish shooting stopper was chosen before Andre Onana – he was left behind by the team despite his health – but he flaps his wings in the 13-minute corner that led to the gunner winner.
It’s not the first time he has shown weakness in a set piece. He conceded a similar goal against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup last season. So, there’s evidence that it’s a problem, but United haven’t sorted it out this summer.
After two seasons with the club and two seasons with Onana, it’s clear that it’s not enough to become Old Trafford’s No. 1. Has Amorim left him out and played his lieutenant, and sent a message to his boss here?
If so, it was expensive as United pushed the Premier League season to a campaign-losing start, so it was backing down as they needed to run to the ground to keep pressure down. Clearly, United needed to strengthen their frontline, given the fact that last season’s league goals scored just 44 goals.
However, the game against their biggest rivals will win in the moment, and Bayindir only hit the ball on Riccardo Calafiori for the definitive thing in this game. He was supposed to be cleaning up William Saliba, but he retreated to him, but instead he was bullied by the center of the Gunners.
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United were shy about their sporting structure and had not won praise for hitting beats to sign rivals like Newcastle. But didn’t they think they wouldn’t recommend introducing new goalkeepers before the start of the season?
If you’re a united supporter, that’s a worrying blind spot. It will still take two weeks for the window to close, but the clock is ticking and if the Bay Indil or Onana gets any more confused over the next two weeks, it may be even more delayed.
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