Manchester United 0-2 Cardiff City: 5 Men who cost United the game

#1 Jesse Lingard

Manchester United v Manchester City - Premier League

Perhaps the biggest mystery in the minds of United fans is how Jesse Lingard continues to start games for Manchester United. The Englishman has been so poor in recent games that he no longer deserves to be in the matchday squad. The only explanation that can be put forward is that this was Lingard’s last chance to impress Solskjaer and the Englishman could be offloaded in the summer.

Lingard started as the false 9 on the night and with two exciting, attacking players ahead of him, had a lot of options to hurt the away side. The Englishman had a free role but failed to make anything out of it. With the speed of Greenwood and Rashford tormenting the Cardiff defence in the opening minutes, United needed Lingard to stitch together those final balls from the middle.

Unfortunately, the Englishman failed to do anything right in the game and ended up frustrating himself as well as his teammates. For a player who is quite fast himself, Lingard actually was guilty of slowing the game down whenever he received the ball.

The Englishman had a very important role in the game, but unfortunately, he failed to have any impact and was the poorest player on the pitch. His dismal performance ultimately cost United the game.