Should Heaton start against old side? – Former Man United star | OneFootball

Former Manchester United and England star Paul Parker believes Ruben Amorim could be ready to take a chance on third choice Tom Heaton to solve his Old Trafford goalkeeper crisis.

United manager Amorim is under pressure to make changes going into their next match against north west rivals Burnley, after Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir’s poor performances so far this season.

United lost to Grimsby on penalties in the EFL Cup and Onana not only failed to save 10 penalties, but also was at fault for both goals in the 90 minutes.

Bayindir started in goal in the club’s first two Premier League matches of the season against Arsenal and Fulham. He was at fault for Riccardo Calafiori’s Arsenal winner as after he failed to claim the ball after a corner and was less than convincing aganst Fulham the following weekend..

And now the hugely respected former United defender Parker asks whether United’s third choice Heaton should now start against his former club.

Paul Parker told Hayters TV in association with Betting Apps India: “One big decision is the goalkeeper. Does he suddenly go, ‘I’m just going to put in Tom Heaton? He’s older, he’s experienced, and he’s actually a goalkeeper?’

“He will know how to deal with a corner he will know how, if he makes a save, where to push the ball. He’s not going to let such a sloppy goal in that he’s near post, there’s going to be more justifiable errors from him than what Amorim’s seeing at the moment with the other two goalkeepers,” he said.

“I’ve got a little bit more time for Bayindir here because he hasn’t really had a lot of games. Every time he comes in, he always knows that his starting position might not be permanent and that’s not expressing a lot of confidence in him. Goalkeepers need to be playing repetitively, it is just their manner.”

Paul Parker speaking to Hayters TV

Amorim favours a 3-4-3 formation with two players in central midfield. This summer United signed Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko, who are all forwards, but Parker believes they still need to bring in a central midfielder.

“That’s the problem. He hasn’t really got the fluency from the back to midfield and the problem is, there’s no central figure in that midfield, it’s just not going to work until he gets that principal player in midfield who’s going to take a little bit of control with and without the ball. Bruno Fernandes is not that player.

“The problem is, he’s gone out and he’s got three players who are in an area which needed livening up, which it has livened up. They also need something in that middle to help them to make different runs, to make things happen from there rather than from wide players.”

Parker is more positive about Cunha, who was signed from Wolves this summer and has had a positive start.

“We’ve seen a lot with Cunha who is doing it a lot of it on his own, which we definitely saw against Arsenal and we saw it against Fulham early on in the match.” Parker added.

“He’s incredible, what he puts in but he needs help or he needs someone to slow him down and slow the game down and play different little balls around the corner. The manager’s got a big decision to make what he’s going to do with that midfield.”