Manchester United ensured the fans go into the new year with the momentum deflated, and once again, Ruben Amorim’s blushes were spared by a player he didn’t want.
On paper, despite the latest hiccup, Man Utd remain on course to fight for a Champions League spot, standing level on points with Chelsea at fifth.
However, that is more down to the league elsewhere being below-par, rather than Ruben Amorim masterminding an improvement at Old Trafford.
Who was Manchester United’s most DISAPPOINTING player vs Wolves?
In fact, it can be argued that United would pretty much be in the same position as they were last season, were it not for a player whom Amorim didn’t even want.
Ruben Amorim is being saved by Senne Lammens
Looking at the league table and United’s results, the thing holding them back is an excess of frustrating draws against teams they should be winning against.
The 1-1 draw against Wolves joins the West Ham, Bournemouth, Spurs, and Nottingham Forest games in the list of fixtures the team should have won.
However, that argument is valid only because Senne Lammens on the other end kept things safe and secure, because United know these draws could have easily turned into losses.
Lammens made crucial saves against West Ham and Bournemouth to keep the team in it, and it was partly down to him that United escaped with a win against Newcastle.
Just like fans theorise where they would be had they won those games, it is just as realistic that without Lammens, narrow wins would have turned into draws, and draws would have turned into losses.
It’s not even a hypothetical, since Man Utd fans saw what Altay Bayindir did against Arsenal or Brentford, or what Andre Onana did against Grimsby.
Had Lammens not come in and made an immediate impact, there’s a very real chance that United would be hovering around the same 12th-15th position in the table.
It’s ironic because the player is making Amorim look like he’s engineered an improvement at the club, which might be a mirage, but the manager didn’t even want Lammens.
Amorim preferred to buy Emi Martinez
The only credit that goes to Amorim is identifying that the campaign would go nowhere if they persisted with Onana and Bayindir.
Wes Brown believes Senne Lammens has a bright future at Man Utd
As it stands, the only difference between the last season and this one is a competent goalkeeper in goal, which is a damning indictment of Amorim’s “progress”.
Even that competent goalkeeper wouldn’t have arrived at the club had Amorim gotten his way, since it was an open secret that he wanted Aston Villa’s Emi Martinez instead.
Martinez vs Lammens went up to deadline day in the summer, and ultimately, the board convinced Amorim to buy for the long-term.
It’s impossible to hypothesise how Martinez would have performed in United colours, but what’s a reality is that Lammens is saving United in games that they would have lost/drawn otherwise.
Are United really progressing under Amorim, or have they just added a competent goalkeeper, one who Amorim didn’t even want?
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
