Louis van Gaal it seems, had given Manchester United midfielder some crucial advice, something that helped the youngster get the crucial breakthrough goal against West Bromwich Albion at the Old Trafford on Saturday.
In a match where Manchester United were again finding it rather difficult to break down a rather sturdy West Brom defence, Jesse Lingard found the back of the net with a well-taken shot from the edge of the penalty area.
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However, manager van Gaal seems to have advised Lingard to control the ball before taking the shot, ahead of the match.
“”Of course, it was again a fantastic goal because Jesse Lingard scored his first goal today,” van Gaal was quoted saying on MUTV. “In the training session earlier this week, he had these chances but shot directly, I told him to control the ball first because with that touch you have more of a feel of the ball – he did today it and scored a fantastic goal.
“We played three games in a row without scoring a goal, though we had more than enough chances. Thata s why you look for solutions and one of those was to bring Jesse into the team.”
Manchester United ‘forgot to play football’ after Lingard goal, says van Gaal
The Manchester United manager was all praises for his team, but he also pointed out the areas where his team was lacking. He believes that after getting the breakthrough goal via Lingard, Manchester United did not play the game properly.
“We could have played the ball more quickly in the first half; in the second half I believe we did better, until the first goal, after which we forgot to continue to play football, Nevertheless, that changed the game,” said van Gaal.
“Goals are always the most important thing in a game but we’re still not giving many chances away, only Berahino’s header,” he continued. “We have won a difficult game that we lost last year. Because of that, [West Brom manager] Tony Pulis chose this strategy but now we have won and improved again.”
This win takes Manchester United to just one point behind top teams Manchester City, Arsenal FC and Leicester City, who are all tied at the top of the table on 25 points. However, Manchester City and Arsenal FC have both played one game less and have the chance of moving four points ahead of this duo, once again.
As such, it would be interesting to see whether Arsenal FC can take the challenge of Tottenham Hotspur FC, after a humiliating 5-1 defeat at the hands of FC Bayern Munich, in midweek.