Senne Lammens leaves Rio Ferdinand in no doubt after what Man United stars did at Anfield

Senne Lammens was instrumental in Manchester United beating Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday and Rio Ferdinand has lauded the shot-stopper

Rio Ferdinand has highlighted the massive impact Manchester United goalkeeper Senne Lammens is already having on the team. The former defender claimed that his early showings illustrate the feeling that he has been at the club for years.

The Belgian shot-stopper was a key component in United's 2-1 win over Liverpool on Sunday, making a number of important saves to deny the hosts. Lammens has been between the sticks for the last two matches, which have resulted in back-to-back wins for Ruben Amorim's side.

The Portuguese tactician made the bold call to include Lammens against Sunderland, on the eve of the international break, and the 21-year-old maintained his role to help end United's barren run at Anfield.

OPINION

OPINION

Lammens has already been likened to Old Trafford icon Peter Schmeichel, something Amorim jokingly downplayed in the build-up to the trip to Merseyside, but Ferdinand has lauded the goalkeeper and believes he has already had a massive impact on the backline.

"Talk about him... what I would say is, again, when I look back at when I played, when did I feel my best? When I didn't have to look behind me and worry about what the keeper might do or where he might be," Ferdinand said on his podcast.

"I wasn't second-guessing anything about my goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar is a great example, a fantastic goalkeeper, a calming influence and just so reassuring seeing that behind you.

"I think what people don't grasp, how important a goalkeeper is because he sends the vibrations through the team, his good vibrations reverberate through the team, the confidence, security, assuredness, confidence, any type of wavering from that to uncertainty and not sure what he's going to do.

"Them looks over there [behind him] means that I'm not concentrating on where I am here. If I'm doing that [looking behind] often and worrying, that looks becomes a little bit longer because the picture in front of me has changed."

The Premier League-winning defender says that the post-match celebrations, which saw Lammens mobbed by his jubilant teammates, is a sign of how much of a positive impact he has had on the defence after 180 minutes of football.

Ferdinand added: "A lot of that was happening, the uncertainty with defenders especially mistakes being made before, it was leading to real uncertainty in the team and you see the way the lads celebrated [with Senne Lammens], it's only his second game by the way.

"It'd almost been like he'd been there a couple of years, it was like, 'this is what we do'. It was so nice to see that togetherness and the celebrations are key for me, a marker, it can be over the top and forced but there was an aggression, a 'let's go' and I hope that's what we're going to see."

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