Manchester United goalkeeper Senne Lammens was handed his debut for the club on Saturday afternoon after being named in the side to take on Sunderland in a must-win match for under-pressure manager Ruben Amorim.
The 23-year-old, signed from Royal Antwerp for £19million on deadline day, was widely expected to replace Andre Onana – who left for Trabzonspor on loan – as the club’s No1 but until now has played second fiddle to Altay Bayindir, whose performances have come under heavy scrutiny.
But Amorim gave the Belgian his chance to shine as he looks to save his job against a Sunderland side who have enjoyed a superb start to the season after being promoted via the Championship playoffs.
United’s defeat at Brentford last week was their third in the first six games of the Premier League season and left them 14th going into the weekend. By contrast, the Black Cats have won three matches and sit sixth.
In more changes to the United line-up, Leny Yoro returned to the back three alongside Matthijs de Ligt and Luke Shaw, with Harry Maguire dropping to the bench.
Diogo Dalot switched from right wing back to the left, with Amad Diallo – who missed the defeat by Brentford with injury – coming in and Patrick Dorgu rested.
Mason Mount also came into the starting line-up in place of Matheus Cunha and made an instant impact, scoring after eight minutes – much to the delight of new keeper Lammens.
Senne Lammens celebrates Mason Mount’s opener against Sunderland at Old Trafford
Lammens makes a stop during the warm-up before his first start for Manchester United
On Friday Amorim admitted that he could be running out of time at United, saying: ‘Nobody here is naive. We understand that we need results to continue the project.
‘We will reach a point that is impossible for everyone because this is a very big club with a lot of sponsors, with two owners. So the balance is really hard.
‘It’s a dream to be here, and I want to continue and I want to fight for this.
‘But what makes me suffer is to lose games, it is not to lose my job. You fear to lose your job when you have to pay the bills – and I don’t have that feeling.
‘I just want to continue this. I’m telling you, when we finish the game and you can see me, I don’t care about my job. That hurt of not winning games or failing, that hurts me the most.’
