Senne Lammens is the flavour of the season right now after his heroics against Everton, and in Michael Carrick, Man Utd have their managerial version.
It sounds complicated to transpose an active player, a goalkeeper no less, over a current manager who was an outfield player, but this is a nuanced take.
Michael Carrick is the managerial version of Senne Lammens, not just in calmness of character and personality, but also in the situation they find themselves in.
Do you agree with Edwin van der Sar over his Lammens praise?
He was excellent against Everton, but is he the long-term goalkeeper for United?
Ineos trusted Lammens when Ruben Amorim wanted Emi Martinez, and they must trust Carrick now.
Senne Lammens is making Michael Carrick look less of a gamble
Carrick was only meant to be a temporary solution for Man Utd, and that was because of a number of reasons.
Firstly, United didn’t want to rush into a permanent appointment mid-season and repeat the mistake they made with Amorim.
Secondly, they couldn’t trust Carrick permanently because his only full-time coaching job before this was at Middlesbrough in the Championship.
With each game, Carrick convinced more people, but a third reason, which is to do with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer being in this position before, is hampering him.
Enter Senne Lammens, who is making Carrick look less and less of a gamble because he has overcome similar doubts.
As an export of the Belgian Pro League, he was doubted on his ability to make the jump to what Gary Neville once said is the “hardest position” in world football – Man Utd goalkeeper.
Lammens has shown that while competency is still needed, being at United is as much to do with having a steely mentality and calmness as it is about talent and potential.
Neville said about Lammens after the 1-0 win against Everton[Sky Sports’ Gary Neville podcast] – “I had my concerns when he came and I thought, why would you take a chance with a goalkeeper who’s young, who’s not got the pedigree, who’s played in a different league, who’s going to come to Manchester United, it could eat him up.”
The same concerns can be applied to Carrick. He’s young in managerial terms. He hasn’t got the pedigree of someone like Thomas Tuchel, Luis Enrique, or Julian Nagelsmann.
He hasn’t managed in this league before. Surely Man Utd would eat him up?
As it turns out, the narrative isn’t as simple as that, because Man Utd aren’t a simple club.
Ineos must be brave with Carrick
Lammens is proving that just being from the Belgian Pro League isn’t a disadvantage, while Andre Onana proved that you can sign a UCL finalist, and he can cost you points in every game.
Prove me wrong: Michael Carrick has already shown enough to become permanent Man United manager.
13 points from 15 would be title winning form over a full season…
The same goes for the manager. Prior managerial experience doesn’t count for much when Carrick is proving that he can do this job.
There’s no guarantee that he’ll keep doing it at this level, but is that a certainty for Enrique and Nagelsmann?
The answer is no, which is why Carrick already doing the job at a high level is more data than anyone could need while making that decision.
Ineos must be brave and go all-in on Carrick at the end of the season if he keeps this up. He’s their Lammens, while the temptation is to sign an Onana in the summer.
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