After their poor display in midweek, Manchester United are back to winning ways as Cristiano Ronaldo and Jesse Lingard score in the win away to West Ham which sees United unbeaten away record stretch to 29 games.
David De Gea also managed to save his first penalty since 2016 late in the game but the players that came on for United during the game were admired. Substitutes Nemanja Matic and Jesse Lingard combined for United’s 89th-minute winner.
Our United On My Mind editor Mike Parrott was accompanied by writer Casey Evans as the pair discussed the West Ham victory in their post-match show on Facebook live, with United ’s super-subs being a topic of discussion.
MP : “He ( Jesse Lingard ) is just being a rollercoaster of a player right now. A great goal against Newcastle, he was the one who gave up the horrible goal against BSC Young Boys and then another great goal today. He’s doing great in the Premier League and he's one of the top goalscorers for United this season.”
CE : “The game against Young Boys was a different scenario, he was brought on when United had ten men. He was probably given a lot more defensive duties and not given the chance to go forward and that’s shown in the difference in his performance.”
“Under Mourinho, he had this sort of mythos around him where if you brought him on in a game, you’d win the game because he was going to score a cracking goal or make a great run."
"You can see the talent there and you've seen the talent before at United, you've seen it at West Ham. I think he should always be considered as a rotation option because he offers something a bit different.”
“He's a goalscoring number ten but has qualities that other players don't have. He's not the best passer, but he can get around and play with a dribble which is something to what, for instance, Bruno Fernandes offers in that role or if you bring in Donny Van De Beek, they’re all different styles of players; it's always good to have.”
“The substitute to bring Matic on, Lingard’s goal does not happen without Matic. Fred and Mctominay were quite secure in mitigating the impact that Rice and Soucek had for West Ham but weren’t very good at getting the ball forward.”
“But as you saw for the goal Matic picked up the ball and saw Lingard in space and pinged it to him and then Lingard did the rest. There is a lot for Lingard still to do but he doesn't get the ball in that area without Matic coming on.”
“It’s a weird situation to be in because we still have Rashford still to come in, Edinson Cavani has been injured for a couple of games so it will be interesting to see how they all fit in. I don't think we’ll have a go-to substitute because we have so many different options.”
MP : “It’s good to see him doing so well off the bench and you assume he will be starting the next game against West Ham in the Cup on Sunday.”
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