Manchester United v Manchester City - Premier League
#1 Jesse Lingard
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Manchester United v Manchester City - Premier League
Solskjaer has been guilty of a few bizarre decisions in his short career as a United manager so far but perhaps nothing can explain his continued selection of Jesse Lingard, a player who offers very little on the field. Lingard has been one of the most underperforming players of this United side in recent games, yet found himself in the team sheet, partnering Marcus Rashford in the attack.
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Perhaps the Norwegian had high pressing and counter-attack in his mind when he chose Lingard over Lukaku, but the Englishman had no positive impact whatsoever on the game. Lingard pressed relentlessly at the start of the game but that soon faded away. His inability to pick a pass and release the ball early saw quite a few counter attacks fail to flourish. He had a chance to unleash Rashford on a great breakaway but took too much time to carve out the final ball.
Lingard was also guilty of missing one easy chance to score with the open goal at his mercy. As Rashford fed in a cross, the City defense missed the ball and all United needed was a simple tap in. Unfortunately, the ball fell to Lingard, who fluffed his chances from close quarters.
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About the author
Deepungsu Pandit
Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over seven years at Sportskeeda. He has written more than 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 20 million reads.
Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.
Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.
Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.
Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.