Jesse’s gem just what he needed

I SAID in Saturday’s Sportsmail that Jesse Lingard needed to add goals to his game and it’s fair to say he answered me. Panama had obviously done their homework. Gabriel Gomez had been earmarked to more or less man-mark Jesse. They kicked him, they pulled him, they elbowed him but he got through all that and his performance was terrific. Energy-wise, his levels were high, he ran into a great position for the first penalty Bryan Robson in Saturday’s Sportsmail and then his goal was simply the best of the day. In many ways he reminds me of Mark Hughes’s goal threat. They are, of course, totally different players but, like Jesse, Mark used to be criticised for missing too many easy chances but then score a spectacular one which left you saying, ‘Where did that come from?’ Jesse is now doing the same with some spectacular goals for club and country. What really impressed me though is his fitness. You can see after he went off that he was joking on the bench, juggling a pair of dirty socks — that’s what he’s like, full of life. Yet what he does on the pitch isn’t easy. It was 30 degrees out there and the short sprinting and h hard running he does is in incredibly draining. The fact Gareth Southgate took him off with Harry Kane s should be a major boost to J Jesse’s confidence as it is c clear he is considered im important to our plans. W We have two games to think about now, not just one, and Gareth was obviously looking to rest him. Confidence is really high now, although we should not be carried away. Panama are arguably the competition’s worst team. They did incredibly well to qualify but if we had been playing the USA it would have been a different contest. As it is, the lads did their job well. Beating anyone 6-1 in a World Cup finals is a great performance but now the real competition begins.

As told to Simon Jones

I didn’t think Jesse would make it but he proved me wrong