Player Focus: Van Gaal’s Faith in Lingard Slowly Being Repaid

“I do not like to single players out, but I have to mention how pleased I’ve been with Jesse Lingard,” Louis van Gaal said in his programme notes before watching the 22-year-old net his first goal for the club against West Brom on Saturday. 

To earn the plaudits from a manager that notoriously values the collective process over individual excellence isn’t something that should be overlooked without significant acknowledgement. It’s not often that someone gets many chances at cracking the big time at a club of Manchester United’s magnitude, but Lingard is starting to prove an anomaly to the norm. 

A serious knee injury on the opening day of last season could have brought the curtains down on his United career. Lingard wouldn’t kick a ball for another six months and even then his comeback wasn’t with United, but actually out on loan with Derby County. The writing could have been on the wall for most at this point. Lingard wouldn’t have been the first and he wouldn’t be the last to see any ambitions of representing the club of his dreams hampered by injury. 

Moreover, the pressure on Van Gaal to deliver silverware in his three years at Old Trafford could have made it easy for him to steer well clear of raw and inexperienced talent developing from the youth academy. Time is very much of the essence for Van Gaal and he could have been forgiven for passing on a prospect that fell, quite literally, at the first hurdle. However, the Dutchman hasn’t strayed from the principals and Lingard has clearly made an impression on the former Bayern Munich head coach. 

He is one of eight players from the academy to have been handed first-team debuts by Van Gaal and while the likes of Tyler Blackett and Paddy McNair have flirted with it, Lingard’s determination to succeed suggests he could be there for the long haul. 

The England U21 international developed alongside the likes of Ravel Morrison and Paul Pogba in the United youth ranks and he was a part of the FA Youth Cup winning side in 2011 that was touted as the club’s new ‘Busby Babes’. A lot was expected of Morrison and Pogba at United, but neither are still at the club. Lingard remains. 

It has been a long road back for the Warrington-born winger and he has had to wait patiently for his second chance, but he has now featured in each of United’s last six league and Champions League matches - with three of those coming from the off. 

His start hasn’t been completely perfect. There are still moments that remind you he remains very much a work in progress, but he is now beginning to add telling contributions to his game that will make it even harder for the likes of Memphis to get back into the starting line-up. 

For example, in the resulting six league and Champions League fixtures that have elapsed since Lingard’s first appearance against Everton last month, only Memphis (every 13 mins) is conceding possession more often than Lingard (26.1 mins) and his shot accuracy of 22% is the worst bar one teammate at United this season, which is something of a classic tendency for a rookie experiencing their first run of senior football, desperate to impress. 

However, what has been most impressive about Lingard is how he has grown into the shirt. He came within the width of the crossbar from cementing his name in club folklore in the Manchester Derby, supplied the killer pass that ended United’s near seven-hour goal drought in their win over CSKA Moscow and was named the WhoScored man of the match (8.20 rating) after he opened the scoring against the Baggies with a sublime finish. 

United fans are yet to see the best of Lingard going forward, yet that is typical of all the forwards restricted by the style being imposed on them by Van Gaal. Having said that, no player to have made at least five appearances in all competitions is requiring fewer minutes per successful dribble than Lingard this season for United (28.3 mins). 

The youngster’s desire to help his team without the ball has also been evident, which puts him even further ahead of Memphis in the pecking order on the left flank at the moment. It’s a facet of his game that he has credited to the relentless training of reserve team coach Warren Joyce and now Van Gaal is beginning to reap the benefits. 

The United graduate made a crucial intervention minutes after coming on against Everton to deny Ross Barkley a certain goalscoring opportunity and against West Brom he completed more tackles than any other teammate on display at Old Trafford (4).

In fact, since United beat Everton midway through October, Lingard is requiring fewer minutes per tackle (42.4 mins) than the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger (49.1 mins), Daley Blind (49.5 mins), Chris Smalling (67.5 mins) and Phil Jones (99.3 mins), accentuating his statistically calculated strength of ‘defensive contribution’. 

Lingard’s late development may come as a surprise to most, particularly at a time where United have gone about fixing their problems with their chequebook, but his progress was actually plotted by Sir Alex Ferguson three years ago. 

“Jesse Lingard is going to be some player,” Ferguson said at the time. “He is 19, came through our youth system and is built like Jean Tigana was for France. But he never got into the limelight there until he was about 24, and I think that will be the same with Lingard. He will become a player when he’s 22 or so. As an attacking midfielder he has got a really good talent. I think he will be a player we have high hopes for, definitely.” 

The challenge facing Lingard now is ensuring he stays in the United first-team, but the early signs suggest Van Gaal was right to reject offers for the novice at the start of the season, as United continue to climb towards the Premier League’s summit with Lingard playing a key role in a run that has seen them put together their best defensive streak in more than a decade (555 minutes without conceding a goal).

Does Lingard have a long-term future at United? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below