If by keep him out the spotlight you mean destroy his confidence by sitting on the bench during a run of good form, publicly admitting he had been dropped for mistakes and therefore encourage the papers to lay into him.
He kept rotating/dropping him for absolutely no reason, and when he'd return to the team he'd be a nervous wreck. He was extremely fortuitous that Lindegaard has twice picked up long term injuries otherwise he'd have probably have got fed up by now or Fergie would've opted for Anders anyway.