Senne Lammens is having an excellent first season at Manchester United and he again proved his worth with an outstanding performance at Everton.
There wasn’t anything subtle about Everton’s corner routines last night, but then there isn’t much subtlety around anybody’s approach to corners in the Premier League at the moment, not while officials have been given the green light to let players turn the six-yard box into a WWE ring.
All 10 of the Toffees’ corners followed a similar pattern. Pile bodies into that box, surround the Manchester United goalkeeper, and send in a cross right on top of that stramash. And most of them followed a similar pattern once they had been delivered. Senne Lammens would find a way through the mayhem to get something on the ball and get it out of the danger area.
David Moyes was asked about Everton’s approach to corners after he had seen Benjamin Sesko’s goal settle the game. What was the thinking? “That the goalie wouldn’t do as well as he did,” said Moyes.
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The Scot went on to call Lammens “bloody brilliant”, and it was hard to disagree with the sentiment. This was another thorough test for the 23-year-old, one he handled confidently and calmly. Rarely can he have been put through the kind of aerial examinations that he has been this season, but with every passing game he is looking like one of the signings of the season, a snip at £18.2million from Royal Antwerp.
Goalkeeping scout Tony Coton is getting his flowers for urging United to take a chance on the Belgian, who had just 55 games in Belgium’s top flight under his belt. Director of football Jason Wilcox and director of recruitment Christopher Vivell also deserve praise for following Coton’s instincts rather than granting Ruben Amorim his wish to sign the vastly more experienced Emiliano Martinez.
It is a decision that is paying off handsomely. Michael Carrick used the words “calmness” and “composure” to describe Lammens at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, and those traits are obvious. He delivered a similar performance at Arsenal in Carrick’s second game in charge, dealing with the Gunners’ set-piece threat by again coming to claim and clear what he could.
That performance was appreciated by his teammates, and defenders love a goalkeeper who has the confidence to come for crosses, corners and, in this Premier League season, long throws. But if he comes and makes a mess of it, that trust will quickly evaporate.
It felt like that position had been reached with United’s other contenders for the No.1 spot this season. In December 2024, Altay Bayindir and Andre Onana both conceded direct from corners in the space of eight days. Onana looked jittery every time a cross came into his box and Bayindir blundered on the opening day of the season, gifting Arsenal a win at Old Trafford.
In this Premier League season, when it seems anything goes in the penalty area, there is every chance that Onana and Bayindir would have felt it was too tough to handle. United needed a change.
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In Lammens, they got the perfect answer. He is young and open to improvement given his relative inexperience, but his nature and his confidence have spread calm to the defence in front of him at a time when stress is often the order of the day in Premier League penalty areas.
Carrick spoke about Lammens’ step up at Everton on Monday night. Swapping Royal Antwerp’s Bosuilstadion, with an average attendance of around 13,500, for Manchester United and Old Trafford is a culture shock. But the goalkeeper has taken it like a duck to water.
“A major part of it is the character and the personality, and that is a major attribute to have, especially playing here,” said Carrick. “The jump that he’s had is a huge jump, and to take it as he has done and just get on with things speaks volumes of his personality, and he’s able to just deal with the environment and play at that level.”
The final 15 minutes on Merseyside might have been the most obvious example of the change in the United goal. Five of those 10 corners came after the 75th minute, as well as a barrage of crosses, and you could sense the pressure building.
“That was a tough place, that last 15 minutes,” said Carrick. “The amount of crosses and corners and things that he had to deal with and a couple of shots that he just catches and takes the sting out of it. So to be able to do that in such a manner is obviously pleasing for us.”
It was an outcome that would have felt unthinkable a year ago, when there was so much uncertainty around United goalkeepers. Now, Lammens could have potentially settled that debate for a decade.