Senne Lammens has admitted that Manchester United fans cannot see the desire behind the scenes from players to “do better,” insisting the locker room is also united behind Michael Carrick.
Lisandro Martínez spoke out against sporting director Jason Wilcox and what he claimed was a lack of support from above, before climbing down a few days later. Bruno Fernandes then openly questioned the tactical approach in the humbling Como loss.
United now head into Sunday’s encounter with Bournemouth at Old Trafford hoping to break a streak of winless games that is currently seven long. Carrick gave an unusual press conference on Friday, in which he spoke for almost six minutes before the first question was asked. The manager drew significant praise for the raw, honest assessment of the situation and what needs to happen.
Lammens admitted it is “easy” for players to speak out in frustration after a disappointing result. “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,” he told Sky Sports.
That postgame passion hasn’t necessarily been visible in on-field performances. “People at home can’t see that, so we need to try to look like that on the pitch, but I can assure you we’re doing everything we can and we’re all together behind the coach, as a staff, players, front office.
"Everyone knows they have to do better, but I think we are united, trying to get better as a team.”
Man Utd’s Change in Style of Play
During Carrick’s interim management, United led the Premier League. The team collected more points from those 17 games than every other team, including champions Arsenal. The squad is almost entirely the same, which makes it all the more surprising to see poor results now.
Lammens suggested that United actually played worse at times last season when results were better.
“Last season I felt like maybe we played sometimes better this season, but last season everything just clicked and went the right way for us,” he said.
Although extra fight is always helpful, an explanation for that appears to be a switch in style, from a counter-attacking approach to one focused more on buildup in possession.
Although admitting struggles against the press, the Belgian offered: “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] everybody knew we had to improve, that teams were going to change the way they played against us.
“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.” But Lammens still believes “fighting as a team and defending as a team” is something the group must “get back to.”
Why Man Utd Lack ‘Fight’ This Season
Is it something as basic as playing more with the ball means not having to fight as much to get it back? United were used to not having possession last season.
“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,” Lammens added. “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.”
Balance is clearly important. “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.”
Add us as a preferred source on Google