Hello! Welcome to a brand new column from me, Ian Irving, host of the Talk of the Devils podcast. Every Friday during the season, I will bring you my reflections, along with the best of our Manchester United content from across our channels, just in case you missed it. There will also be some big talking points and debates as we head into the weekend action. So let’s get to it…
When Cristiano Ronaldo crashed his car on the way to training back in 2009, the perfect team-mate just so happened to be passing to help out.
“All Ronaldo was concerned about — and I’m sure United fans would appreciate this — was not being late for training. He wasn’t bothered about the car,” says Eric Steele, who was Sir Alex Ferguson’s goalkeeping coach at the time.
“Luckily, we had an elder statesman, Edwin van der Sar, who was coming past, recognised the car, picked him up and said, ‘Right get in, we’ll get you to the training ground and we’ll get that reported’.
“When you need us (goalkeepers), we are there for you.”
It hasn’t quite felt like that in recent seasons for Manchester United. Errors from goalkeepers Andre Onana, Altay Bayindir, and even David de Gea in his latter seasons have cost the club points and at times undermined a sense of progress.
But the arrival of Senne Lammens seems to have changed that.
The young Belgian has been praised for his calmness and composure — a family trait that has been passed on to him by his parents, but a quality that he’s definitely needed to focus on and develop.
Lammens worked with a psychologist when he was younger and still keeps a journal, writing down his emotions after each game. He’s also a massive fan of reading and has spoken about how Kobe Bryant’s autobiography The Mamba Mentality has influenced his own approach. He writes Bryant’s numbers 8 and 24 on his gloves before each match as a reminder to keep himself and his team-mates focused.
“I think he started really well and that was him coming in with his natural ability, his game,” Steele, who worked for five years under Ferguson, told us on Wednesday’s episode of Talk of the Devils: Extra.
“Then I think his game has dropped off, but that wouldn’t be difficult with the team the way it was going. (Ruben) Amorim going, no disrespect, has helped because now we’ve got a goalkeeper coach, Craig Mawson, who’s been able to get on the grass and get Lammens back.”
Steele with De Gea (Nigel French – PA Images via Getty Images)
Jorge Vital was the coach Lammens originally worked with. The 64-year-old has worked with Amorim at Sporting CP and Braga, but Steele isn’t sure whether he was improving Lammens.
“I’ve been to games, I went out and watched the warm-up, and I couldn’t believe the fact that I saw a goalkeeping coach who didn’t kick a ball. I’m not sure you can get your message across if you’re not actually demonstrating the work,” said Steele.
“I think there was somewhere along the line, Lammens was being affected. I don’t think he was getting the work that was needed.”
The relationship between goalkeeper and coach is vital, and Steele gave a fascinating insight into his work during his career with Peter Schmeichel, Van der Sar and especially De Gea, whom he personally picked out for Sir Alex Ferguson.
He travelled to watch De Gea 17 times before making the recommendation and talked on the show about the specific detail that was needed to enable his adaptation to the Premier League, teaching him English buzzwords, changing his diet, and even the time he ate to build muscle mass.
There were high-profile mistakes and huge doubts to begin with, before De Gea became the player who won a record four Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year awards, and Steele believes Lammens is now showing signs of stepping up.
“The big thing about being a Man United goalkeeper is you have to make the big saves when it matters. That’s what we need to have from Lammens and he’s done that in the last two or three games. Vital moments in the game, he’s made saves. Because you have to have that total focus, total concentration. You never switch off.”
While Lammens admits to not following too much of the famous Old Trafford No 1s who have gone before him, he has drawn on the experience of Peter Schmeichel, whom he has met after matches and messaged online.
Gary Neville once described Lammens’ position as the hardest role in the English game; he has big gloves to fill.
Devil in the detail: Radek Vitek
From the current United goalkeeper to a young player dreaming of his opportunity and making more of a name for himself on loan in the Championship. Radek Vitek signed for Bristol City initially as injury cover for Max O’Leary, who had played every minute of the previous two seasons. But even with O’Leary’s return to fitness, Vitek very quickly made himself the undisputed No 1, impressing the fans at Ashton Gate with his command of his area, strong handling, and aerial ability to claim crosses. His form forced the former first-choice stopper to end his 18-year association with the Robins and join West Brom in January.
(Leila Coker/Getty Images)
So far, Vitek has made 27 starts in the league and went viral last month for a save of the season contender away at Ipswich, which we mentioned in this column. Vitek has spoken of his ambition to return to United in the summer to compete for a place in the first team squad, and a strong end to the campaign could force the issue.
Lammens’ future is secure, but with Onana’s loan spell at Trabzonspor coming to an end, doubts over Altay Bayindir’s future, and Tom Heaton’s contract ending in June, there could well be a space for the 22-year-old Czech.
Vitek’s only first-team action before this campaign was in the Austrian Bundesliga on loan at Blau Weiss-Linz and in League Two with Accrington Stanley the year before that. He’s yet to make a senior squad for the national team or even the under-21s, so the club will need to make a judgment if he is experienced enough yet to compete with Lammens.
Red all over
- The debate and reaction around Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments on immigration have been everywhere across the past week, and The Athletic’s coverage has been extensive. Talk of the Devils on Monday focused on the impact of his words on Manchester United, discussing the potential damage to the image of the club, internal and international relationships, and the hopes of using political support in the building of a new Old Trafford. There’s also an article with Adam Crafton looking at how the United co-owner sparked a political storm. Yesterday, interim head coach Michael Carrick also said it was not his place to add to Ratcliffe’s statement, but that he is proud of the ‘equality and diversity’ at the club.
- The women’s team have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in their history. Leading 3-0 from the first leg in Spain, Marc Skinner’s side finished the job with another win — 2-0 this time — and another belter from Jess Park. It was already uncharted territory for the team, who had never even played in the group or league phase of the competition.
- Cameron Borthwick-Jackson may well be a name that readers of this column haven’t seen for a while, especially if you missed Chris McKenna’s interview with the former United youngster ahead of Macclesfield’s FA Cup tie with Brentford. It’s been a tough journey for the 29-year-old since breaking into the first team squad with Marcus Rashford under Louis van Gaal in 2015. But 10 years on, Borthwick-Jackson is enjoying his football again, playing under Wayne Rooney’s little brother.