New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) Former Manchester United player Gary Neville believes the team needs more experience in the goalkeeping department after Altay Bayindir’s mistake cost Ruben Amorim’s men the three points in their opening game of the season.
While speaking on ‘The Gary Neville Podcast,’ the former United fullback pointed out the ‘glaring’ issue the side has in goalkeeping and cited his experience at the team.
“There’s a glaring issue that Man Utd cannot ignore and it is the fact they need to find a goalkeeper. They have to. I’m unequivocal on that because I had an experience with Man Utd for 20 years where there were two big periods of seven or eight years with Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar.
“In between, we had seven or eight goalkeepers in a six, seven, eight-year period and it is really unsettling when you haven’t got a dominant No 1, who is dominant in the air, who owns his six-yard box, comes and punches everything and makes a lot of saves to win you points when your defenders make mistakes,” said Neville.
United produced an extremely spirited display against Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday. New signings Bryan Mbuemo and Matheus Cunha heavily impressed the Red Devils faithful but they were undone by Bayindir’s first-half error.
Neville went on to talk about two top class goalkeepers in Gianluigi Donnarumma and Emiliano Martinez, both of whom are on sale this summer, and cited their experience in pressure situations is bound to help the side.
“I don’t know where they are on PSR, but they might have to magic up a bit more money in the next week or two, or do something on loan. The two that have been mentioned in the last two weeks have been Emi Martinez and (Gianluigi) Donnarumma. The reason I think they would be good goalkeepers for Man Utd is not necessarily because they are the best goalkeepers in Europe, but they are big personalities and characters.
“You’ve seen Donnarumma in a European final save those penalties for Italy. He looked like a giant. He’s played for PSG in huge games under pressure. Martinez has played in the World Cup final and won it for Argentina,” he added.
–IANS
aaa/bc
