Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel has likened Senne Lammens to another iconic club goalkeeper, following his fantastic debut over the weekend.
Lammens shines on his debut
The goalkeeping role has been a persistent issue for United in recent years, with both Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir struggling to find consistency between the posts.
During their time at United, Onana and Bayindir have been guilty of high-profile errors that have dearly cost the team. There was speculation over their futures during the summer transfer window but only Onana ended up leaving. The Cameroonian was shipped off to Turkish outfit Trabzonspor, where he will spend the rest of the season on loan.
Bayindir was given a run of games as United’s starting shot-stopper but he failed to grab the opportunity. There was excitement when Lammens was named in the starting XI for Saturday’s meeting with Sunderland and the Belgian didn’t disappoint.
Calm and composed with the ball at his feet, Lammens was instrumental in United’s build-up play. He showcased excellent command during set-pieces, confidently coming out to claim the ball, and capped off a man-of-the-match performance with two outstanding saves to preserve a clean sheet on his United bow.
The former Royal Antwerp man earned rave reviews from Ruben Amorim and was even named in WhoScored’s Premier League Team of the Week.
As anticipation around Lammens’ rise continues to grow, Schmeichel has urged patience, warning against placing too much expectation on the youngster, though he did draw comparisons with Edwin van der Sar.
Schmeichel also aimed a thinly-veiled dig at Onana and Bayindir.
Schmeichel gives verdict on Lammens
Schmeichel told Monday Night Club [as quoted by Manchester Evening News], “You think about the goalkeepers that we’ve had over these last couple of years and how many goals we’ve conceded from errors, nine errors already this season – it’s too much.”
“I go back to when I played, my instruction was and it was the same with Edwin [van der Sar] and David de Gea, we had to save the team 10 points a season, not give them away and that’s what we’ve got used to in the last couple of years, goalkeepers giving goals away and therefore losing points.”
“First of all, it’s nice to see a clean sheet, then a really good and solid goalkeeping performance. It’s what you see, you see this young lad, he didn’t really have much to do for a long, long time, he literally only had the ball at his feet and he did quite well.”
The 1999 treble winner continued, “You’d expect that from any young goalkeeper these days – as that’s how they’re brought up – so there was some resemblance to Edwin, a couple of long balls, he had that first save down to his left, which you expect him to save, but once he’s done that, he’s a goalkeeper now, he’s saving balls.”
“From that, I think his confidence grew, you could see from the first cross, Matthijs de Ligt’s reaction was fantastic, defenders want that when they’re under the cosh to take some of that pressure off.”
“It’s not happened at Man Utd for a bit and of course, the defenders were happy about it. It’s far too early to talk about it, how good this guy is, he’s only young, he’s hardly played any competitive football, he’s most certainly not at Man Utd. Unfortunately we’ve seen over the years, great players come into Man Utd and the pressure is relentless – then they can’t deal with that. It would be silly for someone like me to put more pressure on him.”
“He did well, he’s got an international break now then the next game he’s got to do the same.”
“Then we see how he develops, all goalkeepers make mistakes, that’s when we find out how good people are, in how do they react to those mistakes? It was nice, clean and positive, things that we haven’t been used to.”
United are back in action on Sunday, October 19, when they make their way to Anfield to face Liverpool.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
