Down The Wings

Manchester United Fan Blog

Altay Bayindir goes from zero to hero at Manchester United – Weekly Takeaway

Less than a month ago, Altay Bayindir was the subject of a lot of criticism from Manchester United fans after a very poor goalkeeping display away to Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup. Yesterday, the goalkeeper was the hero for United in a penalty shootout victory over Arsenal in the FA Cup third round. What a turn of events for the Turkish international.

Fraser Forster was the keeper in the headlines after that Carabao Cup clash, but Bayindir should have done better for both the first and fourth goals, so when Ruben Amorim announced in midweek that Bayindir would be starting over Andre Onana, a lot of United fans were left not feeling very optimistic going into the cup tie. Amorim’s decision was proven to be the right one, as Bayindir produced a Player of the Match display and silenced a lot of his critics. His poor distribution left United fans feeling very nervy and invited pressure from Arsenal, but he made six crucial saves, including a brilliant penalty save to stop Martin Odegaard, before two massive stops to deny Declan Rice. He then went on to stop Kai Havertz in the shootout, so a brilliant afternoon from the man in between the sticks.

Bayindir was one of quite a few standout performers on Sunday afternoon, as Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt, Manuel Ugarte and Bruno Fernandes were all vital in ensuring United were part of the fourth round draw. Not only that, but 19-year-old Leny Yoro stepping up to take a penalty in the shootout, and Joshua Zirkzee putting himself forward for the fifth and final penalty, after being jeered off by United fans only a few weeks ago. Massive moments for both of the new signings. Toby Collyer also provided some much-needed energy in the midfield late on and made some very important clearances to help United regroup. The use of substitutes was crucial again in helping United stay in the game.

In less than a month, United have gone to the Etihad, Anfield and the Emirates, in which most football fans around the world would have expected three defeats for United. Instead, they have come out of it with two wins over Arsenal and Manchester City, and a draw against Liverpool, in a game where they definitely could have taken the three points if they were clinical in front of goal. A massive improvement on away results in recent years, but it is important that United kick on from this and back this up with a string of wins, as we face Southampton, Brighton and Rangers in three consecutive home fixtures.

Amorim pointed out recently that he was mad and upset that we could perform the way we did against Liverpool, having not shown any sort of fight in the weeks leading up to it, so all the hard work in these last two games will be for nothing if we continue to slip up in winnable games.

An important spell coming up.

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