Michael Carrick has praised his goalkeeper for his calmness and composure but the young Belgian is benefiting from having a stable and hard-working line-up in front of him
09:44, 24 Feb 2026Updated 09:44, 24 Feb 2026
Man Utd keeper Senne Lammens was named as player of the match for his display at Everton
Watch the highlights of Senne Lammens’ performance against Everton and you cannot fail to be suitably impressed. It would be fair to say he was pretty faultless at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
According to some observers, the Manchester United goalkeeper was the player of the match. David Moyes described him as ‘bloody brilliant’ and as the opposition’s best player.
That probably served the Everton manager’s dubious narrative that his side were a little unfortunate to lose the game by its only goal but he was right to highlight Lammens’ very accomplished contribution to a fifth win in six games for Michael Carrick.
But look again at those highlights and while they are, indeed, suitably impressive, there was nothing jaw-dropping about Lammens’ work. He was not United’s best player.
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He comfortably collects a James Garner free-kick from preposterous range, tips over a Michael Keane effort, also from distance, and, most notably, deals cleanly with a number of corner-kicks while under physical pressure.
But this is a very unthreatening Everton team. Only three teams have scored fewer goals in the Premier League this season and their expected goals figure against United was a measly 0.62. That tells you that Lammens did not face an Everton chance of any serious note.
But the reason he, deservedly, drew so much praise was that he brought an air of assurance to a defensive unit that is looking increasingly more secure under Carrick. Even more than ever, goalkeepers in the modern game seem prone to being overly intense and occasionally rash but the 23-year-old Belgian appears to be remarkably level-headed for his age.
Everton tried to put a lot of pressure on Senne Lammens but it was to no avail(Image: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images)
Lammens – like his manager Michael Carrick – has brought calmness to Old Trafford(Image: Marc Atkins, Getty Images)
But for £18million from Royal Antwerp, he looks fantastic value and, most crucially, he is developing an understanding with outfield players that is becoming stronger by the match. And that is because this is a United side that now knows what it is doing, that has a steady hand on the tiller, a composed figure in the technical area.
Lammens is not the only character who does not panic in the area. The same goes for Carrick, who gave this nice summation of Lammens’ importance to the team.
“Instead of creating the chaos, you want (the keeper) to take the chaos away. It is a big role. The calmness and composure helps an awful lot.”
Instead of creating the chaos, you want to take the chaos away? That is exactly what Lammens did on the banks of the River Mersey … that is exactly what Carrick is doing at Manchester United.
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