The goalkeeping problem in Manchester.

Both Manchester United and Manchester City are struggling with their goalkeeping problems, with only two rounds of the new Premier League season having gone through. Manchester City suffered a humiliating defeat while Manchester United have yet to win a single game, both due to poor goalkeeping.

Throughout his coaching career, Pep Guardiola's philosophy has been to build play from the goalkeeper. He doesn't accept goalkeepers making long, high passes, unless it's a scoring opportunity that must be quickly capitalized on. James Trafford understands this better than anyone, as the 22-year-old goalkeeper, who recently arrived from Burnley, is a product of Manchester City's youth academy.

Just looking at the statistics from the past season, anyone would admire Trafford even without watching him play. There were 12 consecutive clean sheets, 33 consecutive matches conceding only 9 goals, and a total of 16 goals in the entire season (including 42 matches in the second division). All of these are records in the homeland of football. At one point, Trafford even saved two penalties in a single match.

Goalkeeper James Trafford faces pressure playing for Man. City.

Photo: Reuters

But because of the pressure of playing the ball right from the goal, Trafford tried to pass to a teammate in the penalty area and… brought trouble upon himself. He couldn't even make an accurate pass from close range, allowing the opponent to suddenly get a pass that led to a goal. And Man City lost to Tottenham at home.

If the young talents at Trafford fail to meet Guardiola's demands in terms of playing style, then the goalkeeping problem at MU becomes even more serious. Goalkeeper Altay Bayildir has clearly shown that he is almost completely clueless about set pieces. In just the first two games, he dived and fell at least four times without even touching the ball during corner kicks.

Coach Ruben Amorim chose Bayildir as the starting goalkeeper for the last two rounds because everyone knows that goalkeeper Andre Onana has a habit of making individual errors leading to goals conceded. Therefore, this is a real dilemma; whether Onana or Bayildir starts, MU cannot solve their goalkeeping problem.

For quite some time, the transfer market has had a "hot commodity" in Gianluigi Donnarumma – a goalkeeper so outstanding that he needs no introduction. In most cases, goalkeeper transfer fees are never high. Yet, until yesterday, neither of the two Manchester clubs had managed to sign Donnarumma.

Initially, MU wanted Donnarumma, but found they couldn't compete when Man City also wanted him. Now, with rumors circulating that Donnarumma is on the verge of joining Man City, Guardiola's team says they will only buy Donnarumma after they have definitively resolved the issue with Ederson (a famous goalkeeper who has shown signs of decline since last season). And then there's a new complication: Man City has also expressed interest in Senne Lammens – the Belgian goalkeeper from Royal Antwerp, who is set to join MU for £17 million. Ultimately, it's just a vicious cycle of competition between the two Manchester clubs!

Now the question is, is a young goalkeeper from Antwerp, who has never been called up to the national team, necessarily better than Onana or Bayildir? About a week ago, the press even published a list of about a dozen goalkeepers that MU wanted. Man City's selection is certainly not as chaotic, because they only buy goalkeepers who "know how to play the ball with their feet." That's another difficulty.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bai-toan-thu-mon-tai-thanh-pho-manchester-185250826203242603.htm