Manchester United have endured another turbulent week, with events both on and off the pitch adding to mounting pressure on manager Michael Carrick. According to Sky Sports, goalkeeper Senne Lammens has moved to defend the squad's unity and commitment to their under-fire boss.
The week has been marked by disappointment in Como, where United suffered a damaging European defeat, combined with public criticism from senior players. Bruno Fernandes, the club captain, used his post-match interview to question the coaching staff's tactical approach, following a similar intervention from Lisandro Martinez the previous week. These interventions prompted Carrick to deliver an emotional five-minute monologue at his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, in which he emphasised the need for humility and humbleness within the squad.
When asked directly whether the changing room remained united, Lammels offered an unequivocal response.
For me personally, I think it is. I think it's easy to see maybe after a game when players are very frustrated, and I get it, I'm very frustrated as well because we all really want to do better and we all want to win and then we might say sometimes things we don't really mean or fully explain what we mean.
The goalkeeper acknowledged that frustration in the immediate aftermath of matches can create a misleading impression of discord, but stressed the importance of translating unity into on-pitch performance.
Of course, the people at home can't see that, so we need to also try to look like that when we are on the pitch in the weekend, but I can assure you that we're doing everything we can and we're all together behind the coach, as a staff, players, front office.
Everyone knows, of course, they have to do better, but I think we are united and we are trying to get better as a team and together.
Early concessions plague United's campaign
A recurring problem has haunted United throughout the season: poor starts to matches. Against Como, they conceded within the opening minutes, a pattern that has become increasingly damaging. According to ESPN, Como's Nico Paz scored inside two minutes, and United became the first English club to concede in the opening two minutes of consecutive Champions League matches.
This vulnerability has extended beyond European competition. United started poorly against Atletico Madrid the week before, and also struggled early against Fulham and Tottenham either side of the international break. The defensive frailty is underscored by a stark statistic: United have managed only one clean sheet all season, which came against Sabah on 10 September in the Champions League.
Lammels acknowledged the severity of the issue.
It's difficult. We have to learn from that as well fast, because you can try to come up with plans and tactics, but if you get a goal against in the first or second minute, it kind of screws up a little bit your game plan and you're kind of chasing the game from then on.
That's probably one of the biggest things we need to work on right now is to keep ourselves in the game and to try and get that first goal ourselves, instead of being 1-0 down straight away.
The goalkeeper pushed back against the notion that the problem was simply a matter of effort.
I get people thinking it's an easy fix, or like, why don't you just try harder or something like that? Trust me, we are trying harder every day and trying to come up with a solution, but sometimes when it's not going your way, everything falls into place for the other team.
You only need one performance to turn it around, and I think that's what we're trying to aim for and what we're working really hard on right now.
Narratives and tactical questions
The week's events have fuelled numerous narratives around Carrick's tenure, though the manager has attempted to defend his side despite inconsistent performances. However, the statistics paint a bleak picture: United are on their worst run of form since 2014-15, having gone seven games without a win across all competitions. According to ESPN, the 4-1 defeat to Como was United's sixth Champions League loss by three or more goals, and their first such defeat since losing to Barcelona in April 2019.
Carrick has acknowledged that his side lacked aggression, intensity and running in the Como match—qualities that were conspicuously absent from their display. Yet these very attributes were hallmarks of United's play during Carrick's first five months in charge last season, when they secured impressive victories against Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City.
The tactical evolution Carrick has attempted this season has raised questions about what has fundamentally changed. Lammels offered insight into the squad's perspective on the shift in approach.
Last season I felt like, playing-wise, maybe we played sometimes better this season, but last season everything just clicked and went the right way for us. We struggled as a team together when they pressed us, but we didn't concede that many goals, and then I think as a counter team a bit more last season we did really well, but you also know, I think everybody knew that we had to improve as well from that, that teams were going to change the way they played against us.
So that's why we had to evolve this season and in preseason, we tried to do some different things to get us in the best position to win games.
The balance between possession and intensity
When reflecting on the qualities that made last season successful, Lammels identified a crucial missing ingredient: the collective fighting spirit that had carried United through difficult moments.
I think we need a little bit more like last season, the way we fought together, even when it wasn't going the best and just trying to fight as a team and defend as a team, I think that's probably something we need to try to get back to.
Lammels demonstrated a willingness to articulate the changing room's perspective that is rare among players in United's current predicament. When asked where the team's combative edge had gone, he acknowledged the complexity of balancing different aspects of their play.
I get it, I see people talking about numbers and maybe stats and data, I'm not sure about that, because every game is a little bit different. I think, like I said, with the ball we try to do a bit of different things, try to improve, because last season we weren't always the best with the ball. I think we have improved in those sort of things, but maybe the mindset of having the ball and trying to play around has that mindset of when you don't have the ball and try to fight for it the way we did last season.
We need to get a bit of both. It is a fine line, to be honest, that aggressiveness. When you don't have the ball and when you have the ball, you want that calmness, that being able to play from the back and being able to play through the press. I think it's just finding that fine line in ourselves.
Carrick's response and the road ahead
Carrick's emotional address to the squad on Friday represented his attempt to recalibrate the team's mentality. According to ESPN, the manager called the Como performance "unacceptable," took responsibility for the defeat, and apologised to the travelling supporters who witnessed the humiliation.
The week has been testing for everyone connected with United, yet Lammels' willingness to engage openly and articulate the squad's perspective offers a glimmer of hope. His emergence as a vocal leader within the dressing room suggests that despite the external pressure and internal criticism, there remains a core of players committed to turning the season around.
United face Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday, 25 October, with kick-off at 2pm, followed by a trip to Chelsea on Saturday, 31 October. These fixtures represent immediate opportunities to arrest the alarming decline and begin rebuilding momentum under a manager whose position has become increasingly precarious.
