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Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana is a notable omission from the squad that will travel to St James’ Park to take on Champions League hopefuls Newcastle
Manchester United icon Roy Keane has claimed Ruben Amorim has made a “big call” by dropping Andre Onana.
The Manchester Evening News reported this morning that the Cameroon shot-stopper has been omitted from the squad that will travel to St James’ Park to take on Newcastle United.
Amorim’s decision comes in light of an error-packed encounter against Lyon during their Europa League quarter-final first-leg.
Onana was at fault for both goals, including a last-minute equaliser for Rayan Cherki after a goal-bound effort was spilled into his path.
The former Ajax and Inter Milan goalkeeper failed to keep out a bouncing free-kick from Thiago Almada, which has resulted in the United head coach in leaving the 29-year-old behind in the North West for the trip to Newcastle.
“He’s certainly under pressure and football is about making mistakes but if you’re a goalkeeper and you make a mistake and it leads to a goal then you’re going to be criticised,” said Keane.
“It’s difficult for another goalkeeper to come in and get up to speed so quickly, maybe he’ll just leave him (Onana) out for the weekend and let him recharge his batteries for the game coming up on Thursday, we’ll see.
“But that’s the manager’s job, to make big decisions.
“I think he’s done okay in the league, defensively United haven’t been too bad, the big problem is going forward, they don’t score enough goals.
“But the ‘keeper has made some big mistakes and he’s been punished for it.
“It’s a big call from the manager.”
The return leg will be played at Old Trafford on Thursday and it is unclear if Onana will start if second-choice goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, expected to replace him at Newcastle, has a strong performance in the North East.
Despite the bold decision from Amorim he failed to criticise the errors from the goalkeeper on Thursday, which came after an exchange of words with former United midfielder Nemanja Matic, now with Lyon, in the build-up.
“It can happen,” he said. “If you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes.
“If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months.
“The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.
“I don’t know (if Matic unsettled Onana), that can happen.
“The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, talk with (goalkeeping coaches Jorge) Vital and Craig (Mawson), this is the best way to help any player.
“It’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve and then put the player in.
“I didn’t see [Onana], to be honest with you. I use these minutes to try to calm down, to come here to say the right things.
“It’s normal. I felt the dressing room was really quiet.
“We draw away, in Europe, that is always hard, but the team is suffering, we need to change that.”
Published: 2025-04-13 13:01:13 | Author: [email protected] (Stephen Killen) | Source: MEN – Sport
Link: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Tags: #Roy #Keane #responds #brutal #Andre #Onana #Man #United #decision #Ruben #Amorim #theory
