Senne Lammens reveals Michael Carrick’s simple fix behind Man United’s turnaround | OneFootball

Manchester United goalkeeper Senne Lammens has revealed how a simple approach by Michael Carrick has inspired the team’s dramatic resurgence.

Carrick in dreamland

Carrick’s fairytale start to life as United’s caretaker boss continued with Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates.

Having been brought in as a temporary replacement for Ruben Amorim, Carrick kick-started his reign with a dominant 2-0 win over Manchester City.

His side backed it up with another elite performance against Arsenal, securing a massive win that saw United leap into the Champions League places.

Arsenal took the lead in the 29th minute through a Lisandro Martinez own goal, but parity was quickly restored by Bryan Mbeumo’s clinical strike. The Red Devils then surged ahead thanks to a powerful Patrick Dorgu finish.

Mikel Merino made it 2-2 when he prodded home from a corner, but Matheus Cunha had the final say, scoring another beautiful goal to wrap up the win in North London.

Carrick has been widely praised following the performance, with many crediting the former midfielder for injecting an energy that was conspicuously absent under his predecessor. However, Carrick made it clear that he is not getting carried away with things, pointing out that tougher challenges lie ahead.

Speaking to reporters, Lammens offered his insight into how Carrick has engineered such a dramatic turnaround in such a short timeframe.

Lammens’ insight

Lammens said [via the Manchester Evening News], “To be honest, there’s not many special things he did. It’s just like sticking to the basics. Football is basics. If you do the basics well, then the quality of us comes out, and I think we have players with the quality that can make the difference.”

“But if you just do the basics right technically, we’re standing right, defending good together. And just [playing] as a team, to be honest, he made it really clear what he wants from us and what he expects from us.”

“And I think today as well, on the pitch sometimes it [the plan] didn’t really come out, but if you fight as a team and if you keep believing in it, then you can still get the win.”

Asked about Carrick’s post-match remarks to his players, Lammens explained, “To be honest, the same things. It wasn’t the prettiest game, but those were the most difficult ones. Last week was, I think, in every aspect, a good game. I think we play really well. Today was not always perfect.”

“But like I said before, if you work hard as a team, you can always win. And now it’s up to us. We’re there, top four, to stay there and to even look above us. Those games against those top teams, you have to win.”

“But now the coming weeks, when they expect more from us, when we are the favourite to win, then you also have to pull through and those are also really important games.”

Lammens revealed that co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe shared a word with Carrick after the game but he didn’t visit the dressing room.

The United goalkeeper added about the Arsenal game, “I think it was one of the better ones, better feelings of my career. Away as well, yeah, whilst last week [against City] was at home, which is also really nice and really special. This one felt like a little bit more hard work. It wasn’t always the best play from us, but they also games you have to win if you want to be at the top.”

“So today we did that, I think just hardworking, defending together, and then at the end, the subs like Cunha made a difference, and also, the people who come in give our team energy.”

Up next for United is Fulham at Old Trafford and Lammens believes it represents a completely different test to City and Arsenal.

He told MEN about the upcoming assignment, “They are sometimes the most difficult ones, the ones you have to win, so to speak. It’s still a long way from the end of the season, so we don’t want to look at the end. Like at the table, but yeah, we know we’re there [top four].”

“We know we can play against those better teams, so now we have to win against those teams who are maybe a little bit more difficult to play against, playing against low blocks. If you want to be a great team, you have to win against those teams as well.”

Carrick and United will certainly be looking to make it three wins in three when the Cottagers come calling.

Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images

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