Lammens and Dalot blamed as United concede twice in five minutes against Villa

Senne Lammens and Diogo Dalot were criticised by Roy Keane and Ashley Young after Manchester United conceded twice in the opening five minutes against Aston Villa, with the Belgian goalkeeper at fault for both early goals.

Alysson opened the scoring inside 90 seconds, squeezing a shot through Lammens’ legs after Dalot failed to close down the effort. Lammens was then punished again when his parry from a second Alysson strike fell directly into the path of Nicolas Jackson, who made it 2-0 after just five minutes.

Young, speaking as a pundit, pointed to a pattern of poor form from the goalkeeper stretching back to the World Cup. “The goalkeeper doesn’t cover himself in any glory here,” he said. “Since the World Cup he made that mistake and he hasn’t looked the same as last season. For me on the goal, Diogo Dalot — you’ve got to defend your goal. Slide in. He’s got to slide in, he’s going with his opposite foot.”

Keane was equally blunt in his assessment. “The keeper’s got to do better,” he said. “Like all top strikers, you’re looking at the reaction, he’s on the move. Again, poor from United — your goalkeeper: standard save. Villa probably couldn’t believe their luck, dream start for them — but then they gave them a helping hand to get back in the game.”

Michael Carrick’s side responded with purpose, however. Bruno Fernandes converted a penalty to halve the deficit before Youri Tielemans fired in a low finish from Noussair Mazraoui’s cut-back just before half-time to level at 2-2. Keane noted that United topped the running statistics from the moment they went 2-0 down, crediting the shift in intensity for the comeback. “It’s no coincidence — since then they’ve been top of all the running stats,” he said. “When people say that’s not that important, it’s nonsense.”

The momentum proved short-lived. Villa retook the lead early in the second half when John McGinn converted a penalty after Dalot fouled Alysson, and Leon Goretzka extended the advantage further with a close-range finish, leaving United’s defensive frailties firmly in the spotlight once more.