Senne Lammens got a much-deserved clean sheet in the 1-0 win against Chelsea, but was it deserved? It’s an interesting detail.
A perfect game plan was executed by Michael Carrick on the night to see Man Utd get ten points clear of the final UCL place.
The 1-0 win was built on a solid foundation in defence, grafting in midfield, and clinical finishing in attack.
It’s surprising, therefore, that a clean sheet for Senne Lammens arrived in a game nobody expected, perfectly summing up his Man Utd career so far.
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Senne Lammens’ weird Man Utd trajectory so far
The general consensus around Lammens at Old Trafford is extremely positive, especially considering the context he came in and who he replaced.
However, a weird wrinkle in his United career so far is that despite his good form, the stats book says something else entirely.
Lammens has kept just six clean sheets in 27 league games, conceding 34 goals in the process.
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That is hardly the record of a goalkeeper in top form, but look under the surface, and an interesting detail starts to emerge.
Lammens has actually conceded fewer goals than an average goalkeeper would have, considering the shots he faced.
That tells us that the Belgian has faced and conceded some unstoppable goals that are generally not scored with as much regularity.
Simply put, Lammens has been exceptional at shot-stopping and exceptionally unlucky regarding the shots he’s faced.
That makes it impossible to judge his Man Utd career so far as anything except weird, which was ramped up against Chelsea.
Lammens’ strange game against Chelsea
Of all the games you expect Lammens to keep a clean sheet in, an away game at Chelsea with one natural CB available is not at the top of that list.
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However, nothing about Lammens’ career at United so far really makes sense, so of course it ended up being this game where he didn’t concede.
Ironically, Chelsea had 21 shots, but only three of them were on target, which Lammens was equal to, but they struck the post multiple times.
The strange things about this game were that Lammens wasn’t even at his best, and nor was the defence ahead of him capable enough, but somehow it all came together.
It hammered home the point that a good goalkeeper is worth his weight in gold, but he’s nothing without a secure system, and the shots the opponents take are beyond his control.
Lammens controlled the controllable factors well when he was unlucky, and it evened out in a remarkable manner in the Chelsea game when he didn’t even need to be at his best to keep a clean sheet.
It sums up his United career so far perfectly.
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