Senne Lammens believes Manchester United midfielder Carlos Baleba helped to provide "extra spark" when he was introduced from the bench against Tottenham.
United were drawing 0-0 with Spurs when Michael Carrick made three substitutions on the hour mark, replacing Youri Tielemans, Leny Yoro and Amad with Baleba, Diogo Dalot and Joshua Zirkzee. Baleba received a standing ovation from the Old Trafford crowd as he made his debut, which was delayed due to him signing from Brighton with an ankle injury.
Late heartbreak after debut impact
United broke the deadlock not long after Carrick's three changes were made, but Tottenham managed to salvage a point in added time when Dominic Solanke beat Lisandro Martinez to a header in the box. Baleba's debut was one of the only positives on another disappointing night for United.
"Yeah, it's very important," Lammens said of Baleba and the other substitutions. "One of the good things about today was, of course, them coming in and helping us out a lot - everyone could see it."
"We needed that extra spark a little bit in the end, that fresh legs. And I'm very happy for them as well that they could show themselves, but that's what we've been seeing every day on training as well, so for us it's nothing new."
Half-time tactical changes praised
Lammens thought Carrick's tactical changes at half-time also helped the team: "I think in the first half, everyone could see that we needed to be better with the ball and without the ball."
"They had a very good, and technically a very good plan to try to press us, which was difficult to get out of. Then in the halftime, you see we made some changes tactically, also a couple of players maybe coming in who helped us out as well."
"And then you can see you pull the game towards you, you have the feeling you're in control of the game. So yeah, next time we need to try to start the game like that and straight away, especially in here, we need to be able to press their team and we need to be able to control the game."
Positive outlook ahead of busy run
The goalkeeper is trying to remain positive ahead of a tricky run of away games. "I mean, you can look at it both ways, to be honest. We know there are a lot of games coming very fast," he said.
"After a disappointment, you can take that disappointment with you, or you can get it changed real quick and know there's a game coming up very quickly. For me personally, if I maybe don't have the best game, I'm looking forward to the next game to get that sour feeling out of my mouth."
"So I think that's what the feeling we have to get. We know we showed a lot of good things as well today, so take those things and learn from the bad things. And yeah, like you say, there are a lot of very important games, but we also love to play those games."
"We fought last year to be in the Champions League, so we're very happy to be there. And if you want to go far in that competition as well, you have to win those games as well."
