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There was a moment as Senne Lammens reflected on Manchester United’s 2-1 win at Liverpool on Sunday and his role in it when he seemed to want to shrug it off as just another game. It is a sentiment that those who have closely followed his progress would recognise. The 23-year-old goalkeeper, who moved to United from Royal Antwerp at the beginning of September, is all about stability and humility.
It was Lammens’ second appearance for United and his second victory after the 2-0 win over Sunderland at Old Trafford the previous weekend. What was all the fuss about? Then Lammens seemed to catch himself. “I just try to prepare the same way as I’ve always done, treat it like any other game but, of course, you have to be realistic – it’s not like any other game,” he said.
The pressure on United finally to win back-to-back league matches under Amorim; the intense heat on the manager himself; the spotlight on the goalkeeper position after all that has happened with André Onana and, to a lesser extent, Altay Bayindir. It all went into the mix. And that was before people considered that it was comfortably the most high-profile game of Lammens’ career, one in which he has played regularly for a single season – last time out at Antwerp.
Lammens would acknowledge that the outside noise had been impossible to ignore. And everything seemed to narrow to a fine point when Cody Gakpo equalised for Liverpool in the 78th minute. The defending champions had been undone late on in their previous two league matches – the defeats at Crystal Palace and Chelsea. But the sample size for them scoring decisive goals at the death has been far larger this season. The momentum was with them. Anfield was rocking. It felt as if they were set to surge to victory.
That United resisted, that they would emerge victorious, was down to various factors. A marvellous Bruno Fernandes assist for Harry Maguire’s 84th-minute header which would prove to be the winner was one. Liverpool’s profligacy or, to put it another way, United’s good fortune was another. Gakpo hit the woodwork three times and his 87th-minute miss when unmarked in front of goal was inexplicable. But above all, there was an energy and a spirit about United.
There have been numerous false dawns during Amorim’s near one year in charge. As he and the team look ahead to Brighton’s visit to Old Trafford on Saturday, they have something on which to build; something on which they have to build.
“Two wins in a row is something we’ve been looking forward to … to get the momentum going,” Lammens said. “That was a big part of what the coach told us this season – get the momentum going. There’s been quite some disappointments this season, some games that we wanted to take momentum from but we couldn’t. This could be a start of a good momentum. Especially defending in the last 20 minutes, defending the box and how we throw ourselves in front of the ball … I’m really proud of the team.”
Lammens was asked how Amorim had coped with it all; the relentless scrutiny, the questions. “For me, he’s always the same,” he said. “As a coach, he gets a lot of pressure. You can feel it from the outside; you can read it, you can hear it. But he does really good to try to keep the pressure on him and not on the team. He takes a lot of the pressure from us. That’s also what the great managers do.”
Amorim showed his pragmatic side at Anfield. He ordered Semmens and the defenders to play high and direct at times, even though he had selected Matheus Cunha as a false 9 rather than Benjamin Sesko as a real one. The idea was to compete for second balls, then work some combinations and the approach drew a dismissive response from Arne Slot, the Liverpool manager in essence labelling United as low-block, long-ball merchants.
It was not entirely fair because United showed assurance in possession, especially in the first half when they created chances, mainly up the right side where Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo linked well. Cunha was excellent. Nobody at United was about to apologise for anything.
“We know how Liverpool press, that they’re going to go man-v-man so being realistic, coming to Anfield … it’s quite difficult to build up,” Lammens said. “From the beginning with the defenders, I made the decision that we should get more of a long ball and do it with the second ball even though we didn’t really have a target striker. We did quite good [with it], so that’s how we could still push them away.”
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Had Lammens made this decision himself? “No,” he replied. “It’s also the team, the coach. They give you as much information as they can. But you have to be realistic, especially in the beginning of the game. If it really works like this, then you should just stay with this tactic.”
Lammens’ big moment came in the 35th minute with United 1-0 up when he made a save with his foot to deny Alexander Isak after the Liverpool striker had run clear up the inside right. It was a part of the reason why Amorim would heap praise on Lammens afterwards; the latest detail in a whirlwind couple of months.
“It’s [been] a lot, of course, from the outside,” Lammens said. “I try to keep my best friends close, my family, and the rest is a little bit like outside noise. Now I’m doing good so it’s all praise. I know and I’m realistic … if it goes not so good it will be all bad commentary.
“I think my social media has exploded but they told me [that would happen] before the transfer. It’s just a really good feeling that you get the praise. Also with the wins, it’s a really nice feeling.”
