Rúben Amorim is seriously considering making a fundamental change to his starting XI when Manchester United face Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
Manchester United are preparing for their first away outing of the 2025/26 season as Rúben Amorim’s Reds make the trip to Fulham in West London.
United’s campaign began with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal at Old Trafford, though the performance offered plenty of positives.
Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo both shone on their full debuts, while summer signing Benjamin Šeško was also handed his first appearance.
Following that encouraging display, Amorim will be hoping his side can carry their momentum forward and register their first win of the season.
Amorim considering dropping Bayındır vs Fulham
Against Arsenal, Amorim opted to start Turkish international Altay Bayındır in goal over usual first-choice André Onana, as the latter spent most of pre-season in rehabilitation after a hamstring tear and had only been through one week of full training prior to the game.
Although Bayındır had a mostly positive performance against Arsenal, his one major blunder led to the visiting side’s winning goal, failing to punch away a corner.
Although Amorim launched a staunch defence of Bayındır after the game, calling the goalkeeper “unbelievable” after the tie, the head coach is now giving ‘serious consideration’ to dropping him against Fulham.
According to the Manchester Evening News, Amorim is giving serious debate as to recalling Onana back to the starting XI for when the side travels to play at Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon.
Amorim must consider Šeško from the start
While starting Onana over Bayındır is undoubtedly a consideration, another must be starting new striker Šeško for the first time.
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Šeško joined United from RB Leipzig for an initial fee of around £66 million, and made his debut against Arsenal, playing around 30 minutes. However, even before he came on, it was immediately clear that United were lacking a striker presence in the box.
United played Cunha up front last weekend, and the Brazilian was incredible on his debut, but there were too many occasions where Amorim’s creators had great crossing chances, but no one to aim for in the box.
If Amorim were to move Cunha to his natural left flank, continue with Mbeumo on the right, and play 6’5″ Šeško through the middle, United will be able to supply the Slovenian striker with plenty of chances to secure his first goal.
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