Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has revealed why he chose to name Jesse Lingard ahead of Juan Mata in the United starting line-up for the trip to the Hawthorns. The 24-year-old justified his manager’s decision as he delivered a fine performance against the Baggies and helped the Red Devils secure a vital 2-0 win.
United’s victory against West Bromwich Albion made it 3 wins on the spin for them and it was Lingard who set up United’s first goal with a sublime cross for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to head home.
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The Red Devils boss divulged that Lingard’s inclusion in the starting line-up was purely tactical and he said that United needed his pace to unlock the West Brom defence. “[He is] a different player than Juan [Mata],” Mourinho said after the game. “Both very good players obviously but different players.”
“Against Palace, we thought it was more important to have Juan’s quality to hold the ball up. Today we thought it was important to have one of the three attacking players to be more of a runner and we did that with Jesse and later with Marcus [Rashford],” he continued.
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BBC Pundit and former Liverpool player Danny Murphy opined that Lingard’s display at the Hawthorns has given Mourinho a lot to think about ahead of United’s clash with Sunderland on Boxing day. “He has great pace and willingness to get in behind which is key,” Murphy said.
“It’s all about timing when you make these runs. And he keeps finding himself in really dangerous positions because he wants to get in there. When he gets the ball to feet he can dribble as well. He’s got good feet, he’s confident and he drives at people. He’ll get goals. West Brom couldn’t handle him all afternoon. He was fighting for a place in the team and he’s certainly given Mourinho a headache now,” he added.
United next take on Sunderland on boxing day and summer signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who rediscovered his old form before being sidelined with an ankle injury, might return to the side for the visit of the Black Cats.
Mourinho also has a tough call to make on his central defence pairing as Chris Smalling is back in contention for a starting place and Eric Bailly might also be available.
Nothing short of three points would be enough for the Red Devils. Jose’ s men need to extend the winning run which has taken them four points behind Arsenal, who occupy the fourth and final champions league qualification spot.
