Cup king Lingard proves a point to Mourinho
Jesse Lingard scored his first double for Manchester United as Jose Mourinho’s players delivered a satisfying response to their weekend humiliation by Huddersfield.
in a perfect pick- me- up for Tottenham’s arrival at Old Trafford on saturday, the Carabao Cup holders comfortably reached this season’s quarter-finals with knockout specialist Lingard the star of the show.
The england winger produced terrific finishes in each half, the first with his left foot and the second via his head, for his first twogoal haul in a single game since he hit four for Birmingham City on loan in 2013.
nine of his 14 senior goals for United have come in cup competitions and more importantly it lifted morale after the severe criticis that befell the players last time out, not least from their manager who said: ‘ i don’t even remember a friendly where our attitude was so poor.’
Mourinho has an interesting relationship with the League Cup in its different sponsored guises. With four trophies to his name, including last year’s win at Wembley against southampton, he is the competition’s most successful manager alongside Brian Clough and sir alex Ferguson.
However, he questioned its usefulness earlier this season and said Premier League clubs could be ‘fresher’ for european games without it.
Following saturday’s disastrous 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield, perhaps United were glad of the distraction of a domestic cup tie on this occasion and Mourinho made fewer changes than swansea, having criticised his players’ desire at the weekend.
six of his starters had featured in the John smith’s stadium debacle including £31million central defender Victor Lindelof whose howler gifted Huddersfield’s second goal. The swede took his place in a reshaped three-man defence also featuring 19-year-year old axel Tuanzebe against a swansea team hoping to bounce back from a home defeat by Leicester, which left them above the relegation zone only on goal difference.
United made a fast start. Chris smalling should have scored from Marcus rashford’s corner after only 72 seconds but having beaten alfie Mawson in the air, he headed wide. Lingard was then denied by the fingertips of Kristoffer nordfeldt with a fierce strike from distance.
swansea, who used the towering youngster Oli McBurnie as a lone target man, caught breath to apply their first pressure which United’s stand- in goalkeeper sergio romero eased with a risky bit of dribbling inside his own box. Without hitting top form, United did enough to deserve their lead after 21 minutes.
The goal was a class affair out of keeping with the pedestrian stuff that had gone before. ander Herrera knocked a pass from the middle of the pitch into rashford’s feet and his first time flick released Lingard on goal.
The man most famous for scoring a spectacular winner in the 2016 Fa Cup final had little trouble running on and coolly despatching a low finish into the bottom right-hand corner.
swansea’s response encouraged the home fans. Ki sung-yueng started to influence the game in the final third while Wayne routledge’s pace tested Tuanzebe and forced smalling into a lastditch clearance as the ball came across the penalty area.
But they suffered a blow, not least for their upcoming Premier League games, when Martin Olsson appeared to pull a muscle in front of the dug- out as he sprinted with rashford for a loose ball. The swede was quickly replaced to sympathetic applause
id for Kyle naughton.
naughton’s first contribution was to pass straight to Herrera and he was fortunate a swift United counter ended with scott McTominay firing high from anthony Matial’s lay-back.
The second half began painfully for Martial who winced as he landed on angel rangel following an aerial duel. rashford then felt the full force of a sam Clucas challenge as he broke forward, the swansea midfielder following rangel into referee Bobby Madley’s notebook.
United kept the back door shut with their extra centre-half but when Tuanzebe burst from his regular position, he did so with devastating effect on 59 minutes.
He showed an excellent turn of foot to leave a couple of swansea stragglers behind on a run into the opposition half. He then sprayed a pass to Matteo darmian on the right flank and when the italian’s cross sailed over rashford’s head, Lingard was positioned behind to send a terrific header past nordfeldt from 12 yards.
as if to make swansea feel even more depressed, Mourinho then sent on his big guns — literally and metaphorically — romelu Lukaku and nemanja Matic midway through the second half.
One of those replaced, Herrera, got a congratulatory handshake from Mourinho, who hadn’t liked the spaniard’s comment that United had lacked ‘passion’ on saturday.