Manchester United suffered their fourth defeat in their last five home games as Brighton left Old Trafford with a comfortable 3-1 win on Sunday afternoon.
Bruno Fernandes cancelled out Yankuba Minteh’s early opener before the outstanding Kaoru Mitoma restored The Seagull’s lead on the hour mark.
United huffed and puffed but were dead and buried with 15 minutes left on the clock after Georginio Rutter hopped off the bench to capitalise on a shocking mistake by Andre Onana.
The Cameroon international failed to deal with Yasin Ayari’s tepid low cross, spilling the ball to Rutter who made no mistake, slamming the ball into an empty net and condemning United to another dark day in front of home support.
As reported by The Mirror, Ruben Amorim was left fuming after the game and gave his verdict on Onana’s turbulent form this season.
“It’s like the team, ups and downs. Really up, sometimes, and really low downs. We have to maintain the focus during all the game to try to win. That is the only way we can turn things around,” he said.
Onana’s howler comes off the back of a a couple of fine stops in the comeback win against Southampton, keeping United in a game they could have been dead and buried in before Amad Diallo’s inspired late intervention.
The two outings rather sum up Onana’s time at Old Trafford which has been littered with as many goal-costing mistakes as good moments.
It looked as though the 28-year-old had recovered from his rocky start in Manchester that saw a raft of early, costly errors lead to question marks over his suitability for the role.
However, another poor display has reared further conversations on whether Onana is truly good enough to keep goal for United in the long term.
What may grant the ‘keeper a stay of execution is that the team are in dire need of outfield reinforcements before they are in a position to replace Onana with someone of the required level.
However, should the former Ajax man not see his form improve in the coming weeks, Bayindir will no doubt be chomping at the bit to prove his worth with an extended run in the first team.
Amorim will be hoping his stopper can shake off the mistake as quickly as possible with games coming thick and fast in the coming weeks.
United are rooted in the bottom half of the Premier League table and in desperate need of an upturn in fortunes to salvage something from a season that has been nothing short of a disaster up until now.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Conner Botterill
Conner Botterill has been with The Peoples Person for two years. A keen match-going red with degrees in Sport and Journalism and Philosophy and Psychology, Conner still believes he has a chance of making United’s first team through his 5-a-side career.
