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Peter Schmeichel insists the job of a Manchester United goalkeeper is "to save the team 10 points a season, not give them away" as he issued his verdict on Senne Lammens debut at Old Trafford. The Belgian was bought into the club in the summer amid a goalkeeping reshuffle.

Lammens was an unknown quantity and was signed whilst Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir were both at the club. In a surprising turn of events the Cameroonian, who had endured an error-strewn two years in Manchester, was allowed to leave on loan.

That left Bayindir, who began the year as No 1, as the first choice under Ruben Amorim. He too has made notable mistakes with United struggling for results, eventually leading to a change against Sunderland.

Lammens kept a clean sheet but Schmeichel insists too often in recent years United goalkeepers have given up points, when he was told their core remit was to ensure the team banked more points than they were perhaps entitled to, owing to their goalkeeper's performances.

He told Monday Night Club: "You think about the goalkeepers that we've had over these last couple of years and how many goals we've conceded from errors, nine errors already this season - it's too much.

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"I go back to when I played, my instruction was and it was the same with Edwin [van der Sar] and David de Gea, we had to save the team 10 points a season, not give them away and that's what we've got used to in the last couple of years, goalkeepers giving goals away and therefore losing points. First of all, it's nice to see a clean sheet, then a really good and solid goalkeeping performance.

"It's what you see, you see this young lad, he didn't really have much to do for a long, long time, he literally only had the ball at his feet and he did quite well.

"You'd expect that from any young goalkeeper these days - as that's how they're brought up - so there was some resemblance to Edwin, a couple of long balls, he had that first save down to his left, which you expect him to save, but once he's done that, he's a goalkeeper now, he's saving balls."

De Gea, at his peak, was a hugely influential goalkeeper on the red side of Manchester. He picked up numerous individual accolades and was courted by the likes of Real Madrid. A number of the club's former players, Gary Neville among them, aired concerns over their lack of a quality goalkeeper before the season begun.

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