Senne Lammens could not have asked for a stronger start to life at Manchester United, but the Belgian goalkeeper is keeping his feet firmly on the ground despite the early praise.
After completing a £18.2m move from Royal Antwerp on deadline day, the 23-year-old had to be patient, watching from the bench for three matches before finally making his debut in the victory over Sunderland just before the international break.
The Stretford End were quick to show their appreciation, serenading him with chants of ‘Are you Schmeichel in disguise?’ after he kept a clean sheet on his debut. Lammens followed that up with another standout display in Sunday’s 2-1 win away to Liverpool – United’s first victory at Anfield in nearly a decade.
Reflecting on his sudden rise from the Belgian Pro League to starring in one of the world’s biggest fixtures, Lammens admitted it had been a whirlwind few weeks.
“It’s a lot. I try to keep my best friends and family close and the rest is a bit of outside noise,” he said. “At the moment it is going good so it is all praise, but I am realistic to know if it goes not so good it will be all bad comments. It’s a really good feeling when you get the praise and also with the wins.”
The result at Anfield marked the first time since Ruben Amorim’s appointment last November that United had recorded back-to-back league victories, and Lammens is eager to maintain that momentum.
“We’ve tasted it and we want more. This is not the end station, we just have to keep going,” he said. “It was 10 seasons ago we won here, so that’s kind of special. Two in a row is also something we have been looking forward to to get the momentum going.
“That’s a big part of what the coach has been telling us this season – get momentum going. There have been some disappointments this season where we wanted to take momentum and we couldn’t, but this could be the start of some good momentum.”
Despite only working with Amorim for a short time, Lammens was full of praise for the Portuguese manager, particularly for the way he has handled external criticism.
“As the coach he gets a lot of pressure, you can feel it from the outside, you can read it and hear it,” Lammens said. “But I think he does his best and he tries to keep the pressure on him and not on the team, he takes the pressure off us and that’s what a lot of great managers do.”
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