Copyright manchestereveningnews
Senne Lammens admitted Manchester United's win against Liverpool was the biggest game of his career. Lammens kept a clean sheet against Sunderland before the international break, but starting against Liverpool at Anfield was bound to ask different questions of the goalkeeper. And the 23-year-old had the answers. Lammens was not intimated by the Anfield atmosphere and played a crucial role in a special victory, making some important saves and releasing pressure with his goal kicks. The Manchester Evening News spoke to Lammens as he left the stadium. "There are not a lot of feelings in the world like this, I think," he said. "Playing in front of the fans two weeks ago was a dream come true, with the clean sheet and the win, but today is a different kind of day. "I think it was like ten seasons ago we won here [in 2016], so you can feel it as well with the fans. This atmosphere was one of the biggest games I was looking forward to when I came here, so I'm so happy we could win today." Lammens was asked whether it was the biggest came of his career. "Yeah, it has to be, I'm not even close, I think," he said, before explaining his approach was more or less the same as every other game. "I think you just try to be like yourself, don't really overthink it, it's just a game, to be honest, at the end of the day. Just in my preparation, the same as usual. I concentrate on the pitch. "Not really looking or hearing what's going on outside of the pitch, and I think with this team today, how we fought, it feels so good that we got what we deserved, I think. So it's really good today." Mason Mount praised Lammens for releasing pressure with his long kicks after the Sunderland win, and the approach was hugely effective against Liverpool at Anfield. "We know how they press, they're gonna go man-vs-man, so I think being realistic, coming into Anfield, it's quite difficult to build up, I think, so from the beginning on with the defenders, I think I made the decision that we should get more of a long ball and do it with the second ball," Lammens said. "Even though we didn't really have a target striker. But I think even though we didn't have one, the second ball we did quite good, so that's how we could still push them away, and how we also scored the first one, I think, it was because of the long ball, second ball and then a counter." When asked if that was his own decision, he said: "No, it's also the team, the coach, they try to give you as much information as they can, but yeah, you have to be realistic as well, especially in the beginning of the game, if it really works like this, then you should just stay with this tactic, and I think today it worked out." Lammens continued: "Like I said, it was ten seasons ago since we win in here, so that's kind of special, and also, I don't know for sure, but two [league wins] in a row is also something we've been looking forward to, to get the momentum going. "I think that was a big part of what the coach showed us this season, get the momentum going, and there's been quite some disappointments this season, some games that we wanted to take momentum but we couldn't, and I think today could be a start of a good momentum, and we should next week at home as well (against Brighton), so with the fans behind us we should try to win that game as well." United showed immense character to score a winner after an equaliser from Cody Gakpo. "Yeah, I've not been here a long time, but you can feel it. With the team, we've all got players who are really experienced, and we know that even if they score we've still got a chance," he said. "I think last year as well and this season we scored some goals after the opponent scored, so we knew with the crosses on Harry [Maguire] and stuff, he scored quite a lot of them. "So you never want a game like this, but especially defending in the last 20 minutes, defending the box and how we throw ourselves in front of the ball, also the players who came in, it's not difficult in this environment, and the type of game it was, so I'm really proud of the team today." Asked about shutting out the noise, he responded: "Yeah, I try my hardest, I think I'm quite OK at this, trying to keep the noise out from outside, like I said, just prepare the same way as I've always done, treat it like any other game, of course you have to be realistic, it's not like any other game. "But you still try to prepare like this, and I think just from the first minute on you be realistic, and like I said with the game plan we did as well, I think we executed it quite good, so we knew before the game it was going to be really difficult, and we had to defend with 11 people, and we did, so it was really good." Discussing Ruben Amorim, Lammens said: "For me, he's always the same, I haven't been here as long as I said before, so maybe it's different for other guys, but for me as a coach he gets a lot of pressure. "You can feel it from the outside, you can read it, you can hear it, but I think he does his best, and he does really good, try to keep the pressure on him and not on the team, he takes a lot of the pressure from us, and that's also what the great managers do." Lammens' life has changed dramatically since moving to Old Trafford . "Of course from the outside I try to keep my best friends close, my family and the rest is a little bit like outside noise, now I'm doing good. So it's all praise, I know, and I'm realistic, if it goes not so good it will be all bad commentary," he said. "I think my social media has exploded, but they told me before the transfer, I already knew it a little bit, but it's just a really good feeling that you get the praise, also with the wins, it's a really nice feeling. "It's [Manchester] really nice, I've been in my apartment now a couple of weeks, so it's quite easy." Will Lammens celebrate the victory? "I think I'm going to go quite easy tonight," he smiled. "One of my best mates is here, so I'm going to spend the evening with him a little bit, enjoy this. "But I think we've tasted it and now we want more, that's the most important, so this is not the end station, so now we just have to keep going."
