Senne Lammens 'impact' on Man United explained after just one match

Manchester United handed a debut to Senne Lammens last weekend and he rewarded Ruben Amorim's faith with a clean sheet

Senne Lammens has given a significant boost to the morale of the Manchester United dressing room after just one match, says former defender Wes Brown.

At the start of the summer transfer window, first-choice goalkeeper Andre Onana was reassured that he was still part of the plans at Old Trafford. However, an injury ruled him out of the pre-season tour of the USA, with Altay Bayindir stepping in as his replacement.

Even after recovery, Onana was continually overlooked until his disastrous performance against Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup. The Cameroon international was arguably responsible for both goals scored by the League Two club, and the penalty shootout did nothing to salvage his reputation.

After that match in north Lincolnshire, it seemed Onana's days at United were numbered. Fast forward to deadline day, Ruben Amorim decided to gamble on Royal Antwerp 'keeper Lammens and, shortly after the window closed, Onana was loaned to Trabzonspor for the season.

While his tenure at United won't officially conclude at the end of this campaign, insiders believe that Onana's time at Old Trafford is effectively over. Therefore, the burden of expectation now falls on Lammens.

Immediately following Onana's departure, Bayindir retained his position in goal. A subpar performance against Brentford though prompted Amorim to bring in Lammens.

Despite being only 23, the Belgian rose to the occasion against Sunderland. He was reliable and produced a couple of solid stops to ensure it was a fairly comfortable afternoon for the United supporters and backline.

Speaking to 10bet Casino, Brown reckons that Lammens, following just one outing, has already influenced the Reds' changing room positively. "I think there were a couple of positive things," he explained when reflecting on the victory over the Black Cats.

"First of all, and maybe the most important, was Senne Lammens, the goalkeeper. He gave a very confident display, and I think that gives encouragement to the rest of the team.

"We had more consistency and what I mean by that is the defence was solid, and the keeper was solid. We were creating chances, and obviously we got two goals out of that.

"And you just want to see smiles on faces. When you're playing football, when you're scoring goals, defending well, it gives you a big smile.

"I think going into the next game, the confidence obviously against Liverpool will be at a good state and you have to try and take it into the game. But consistency is the big thing for us at the moment.

"You know, one game we play well, one game we play bad and somehow we've got to change that. We know how well we can play in certain games, but we've not been able to take that into the next game.

"So the mentality, hopefully having the confidence from the Sunderland result gets the lads fired up for the Liverpool game after the international break." As Brown hinted, Lammens' next challenge is arguably one of the most significant for a United player - a visit to Anfield.

In recent years, encounters with Liverpool have been tough for United supporters to bear. They've only managed two victories in their last ten matches against their fierce rivals.

United's most recent triumph was the 4-3 nail-biter in the FA Cup at Old Trafford where Amad etched his name into the history books. Remarkably, United's last win at Anfield dates back to 2016.

At that time, Louis van Gaal was still at the helm and Wayne Rooney netted the decisive goal. Fortunately for Amorim, he can draw confidence from their previous trip to Anfield where they almost snatched all three points against the league leaders.

However, if they are to achieve that feat next weekend, they will need Lammens to be in peak form.

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