November 29th 2023.
Erik ten Hag has praised the adaptation of Altay Bayindir to life at Manchester United, but is in no hurry to throw him into the team despite another poor performance from Andre Onana. On Wednesday in Istanbul, Onana was at fault for the first two goals in the 3-3 draw, leaving United's hopes of making the knockout stages hanging by a thread.
Ten Hag's side had taken a two-goal lead early in the match, but were pegged back when Hakim Ziyech's relatively tame free-kick deceived Onana, who took a big step to his left and could not recover as the ball went straight down the middle of the goal. Scott McTominay restored United's two-goal advantage in the second half, only for United to be undone in almost identical fashion. This time, a wider free-kick from Ziyech somehow squirmed under Onana and into the back of the net, with Kerem Akturkoglu completing Galatasaray's comeback not long after.
In response to a Turkish journalist's question regarding the summer signing's lack of playing time, Ten Hag said: ‘We are very happy with our keeper group, with Andre, with Altay and also Tom [Heaton]. Bayindir has not featured since leaving Turkey in the summer. A very good keeper group. As a group they do really well, they have good performances and they have to push each other. So we are very pleased with Altay, he gets used to the Premier League, he gets used to European football – which is tough when you’re coming from Turkey. But we are very pleased with that process, he’s doing very well. He has to be patient, but if he works well, if he keeps his progress, he will get his chances and then he has to take this."
Reflecting on how United conceded in Istanbul, Ten Hag said: "I think every goal has its own story. The first is a transition moment, when you speak about quick release, we don’t block the middle. The second is a free-kick, an unnecessary free-kick, but then we have to defend the free-kick better and then the third one, we are very good and organised but we got run off and we are in an overload area. So it can never happen, these mistakes can’t be. In the Champions League, you get punished for it, so you have to learn from it."
Incredibly, United have now conceded 14 goals in their five Champions League group-stage matches – the worst record of any English team in the competition’s history – while only Antwerp have conceded more goals in this year’s tournament. As such, Altay Bayindir is yet to get a chance to prove himself in a match for the Red Devils. However, Ten Hag has suggested he could get a chance later down the line if he keeps progressing. With Onana's gaffe-strewn performance, Ten Hag and Man United fans alike will be hoping that Bayindir can come in and deliver better results.
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