Senne Lammens has been putting in extra hours at Carrington as he looks to turn around a tough start to the season for both him and the side. The Belgian shot-stopper was widely heralded as the signing of last season, bringing a sense of assurance between the sticks and seemingly ending the problem position. But he has looked far from settled in the Manchester United goal since the start of the campaign, which reached a new low for him on Sunday.
A difficult afternoon at Old Trafford
The ball went through his legs as Alysson put Aston Villa ahead inside the first 60 seconds at Old Trafford, before he parried a shot straight into the path of Nicolas Jackson for a second after less than four minutes.
Lammens is under no illusions about his dip in form and, according to the Mail, he has been skipping days off for extra work. He is also often the first to arrive at the training ground in the morning and the last to leave.
Club figures see improvement
It is claimed some figures at United believe areas of his game have actually improved from his debut season. He has not been helped by a defence that has allowed him to face a joint-high 52 shots in the Premier League.
He has made the fourth-most saves this season, but United have conceded 19 times in the first 10 league games, with only Ipswich and Crystal Palace letting in more.
Roy Keane's verdict
Still, United legend Roy Keane thinks he needs to up his game. Speaking on Sky Sports on Sunday, Keane said: "When they were on a good run of results last year, the goalkeeper was doing very well, making a lot of big saves, he’s not doing that. Bruno [Fernandes] was on fire, he’s not at his very best at the moment.
"The goalkeeper has to do better. It doesn’t help if your goalkeeper isn’t making saves, that hurts the team a lot. So there are some basic footballing reasons… but to be in the bottom three, playing for Man United… this should be hurting them."
Scrutiny continues
Some high-profile errors - including the one that saw Spain knock Belgium out of the World Cup - have further raised the scrutiny on Lammens. His work rate cannot be called into question, though.
