MANCHESTER UNITED'S JESSE LINGARD NEEDS TO TRANSFER HIS AMAZING FORM FOR COUNTRY TO OLD TRAFFORD

Can Jesse Lingard transfer the same level of positive impact he has been enjoying for the three lions into his performance for Manchester United?

    That is a question still left unanswered. The England national squad returned to duty to represent their country during last two weeks international friendlies where the English team faced off against a good opponent in the form of another two equally good USA team and Croatia team respectively. In a match where the fans would have expected some of Englands already established superstars such as Harry Kane, Delli Ali or even Wayne Rooney to grasp the medias complete attention, there was still just enough rooms in the front pages of a couple of newspapers in England to highlight Lingards goal-scoring streak continuing for the three lions this past two weeks.

      Frankly, when analyzing the performance for club and country, Jesse Lingard seems to be operating on two opposite levels. During the recently concluded 2018 FIFA World Cup, the English Midfielder seemed to escalated his ability on the pitch by putting on some very impressive displays on the field to help the England National team qualify from their group and last all the way into the  Semi-Finals of the 2018 Fifa World Cup. The boy has been performing for the England National Squad without a doubt. However, the problem with Lingard's performance simply lies on the fact that Lingard struggles with transferring his impressive performance for England National team over to his club side Manchester United. To be fair to Jesse Lingard, upon further analysis, some evidence will suggest that the major factor affecting Jesse Lingard level of impact on Jose Mourinho team is that Lingard operates from a  position Lingard might not be well invested in completely.  Talk about being set up to fail from the offset.

  The problem hindering Jesse Lingard from playing the football worth his potential is simply numbers. Yes! The numbers are against Jesse Lingard unfortunately. If anyone thinks back to the notable season Jesse Lingard had for Manchester United when the English man was simply in a constant tear in front of goal, scoring goals constantly match after match, one aspect of Jesse Lingard's game will stand out in comparison to this current season and that will be the position the player is operating.

       Under Louis Van Gaal and even under Jose Mourinho’s first term as Manchester United manager,  Jesse Lingard operated in a much more effective central position connecting well with players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba to score 8 goals for the team. Not the best record admittedly but compared to this season where Jesse Lingard has operated largely from the right-hand side and scored zero goals so far.  The reason why Jesse Lingard's performance this season might not stand out this season in comparison to two seasons might be due to the fact Jesse Lingard operates on his less effective right side for Jose Mourinho.

 Mourinho might want to reconsider which position Lingard occupies this season to get the best out of the player. positioning Jesse Lingard in the center of the pitch might be a much more positive route to take for Lingard personally and a positive route for Manchester United football club to take in general.

   However, allocating Jesse Lingard to the central position triggers the fear of causing more harm than good for Manchester United. Take a look at  Manchester United's way of operating this season. Manchester United holds the ball on the back with their defense, slowly string sum paces along, then the ball gets delivered to Manchester United's midfield aka Paul Pogba. Now, once the ball is in the legs of Paul Pogba, the French midfielder holds up the ball allowing Manchester United's wingers to run up expecting a pass. 

     A soon as Pogba delivers a pass to the wide men, Pogba now has the opportunity to run into the vacant space meant for the Central Attacking Midfielder, allowing Pogba to influence the attack by acting as the link between the striker and the wide men for Manchester United. However, this quick passage of play all slows down if a player such as Jesse Lingard is occupying that center attacking position. So here lies the problem: where does Jesse Lingard fit in the team? 

  The question of finding the perfect, influential spot for Lingard to operate is certainly that will continue to be a problem for Manchester United because at the moment, most Manchester United supporters will most likely agree that, in the majority of matches played during the season, Manchester United has shown the potential to be extremely effective when the central area of the field between the defenders and the striker is occupied by three men, namely: Fred, Paul Pogba and Andreas Pereira.

What does this mean for a player such as Jesse Lingard? Well, certainly does not imply that Manchester United should get rid of Jesse Lingard this January and definitely does not insinuate Manchester United will be planning to get rid of Jesse Lingard during the 2019 summer transfer window. However, since Manchester United clearly operates better with certain players in the starting line up, Lingard will certainly experience a little less game time playing in the center attacking midfield compared to the number of game time Jesse Lingard will have should Jose Mourinho choose to play Lingard on Lingard's less preferred right wing for Manchester United.

Operating on the right wing for Manchester United might not be the best productive position for Jesse Lingard personally. However, looking at the bigger picture for Manchester United, having Jesse Lingard operate on the right-hand side rather than as the Central attacking midfielder will definitely help Manchester United be a little bit more creative with the ball in the center of the field. Especially with Jose Mourinho proving strongly to continue implementing the 4-3-3 formation all the way for the rest of the season.

   Will having Jesse Lingard play on the right instead of having Lingard play as a much more effective Central Attacking Midfielder be considered a sought of sacrificial action? By that, the question is simply implies: will take a player from his best effective position another to help team be unfair to Jesse Lingard? Maybe not. Because the choice will certainly no be taken out of personal despair by the Manchester United against Lingard. Rather the choice should be made simply as a means as unlocking the teams full potential. Besides, there is no reason why the skills that make Jesse Lingard so productive playing in the center attacking position will not be as effective should Jesse Lingard operate as a right winger in the future.