Former Nottingham Forest midfielder Jermaine Jenas was forced into a U-turn by Jesse Lingard during the victory over Liverpool on Saturday.
During commentary of the match, in a brief first-half lapse from Lingard, Jenas was critical of the 29-year-old, who is on a one-year deal at the City Ground this season. Much has been made of his lack of form in the first part of the season, but he proved many wrong with a strong display against Liverpool.
In one particular moment in the 29th minute, Jenas noted on commentary: “That was really lazy from Lingard. He has to do better there.” As the match went on, Jenas and fellow Lingard critics were made to swallow their words as he grew into the game.
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When Lingard was substituted in the second half, however, Jenas was much more complimentary of the former Manchester United and West Ham forward. When Lingard was substituted, Jenas said: “He’s put a real shift in today. He’s done his bit and worked really hard, to be honest.”
Someone Lingard proved right at the weekend was head coach Steve Cooper, who spoke honestly about the forward at the start of October, saying: “Jesse and I get on great, and we talk about this a lot. I’ve reminded Jesse that he only came in shortly before the season started. And actually, he has done a lot, with missing pre-season to where he’s at now, in terms of personal physical status.
“We don’t want to see Jesse not starting games; that’s not why he’s here. He doesn’t want to, either - every player will say that. But for sure, we are both ready for him to step up, in terms of his contributions to games.
“He hasn’t been poor. Don’t get me wrong, he hasn’t been bad, and a lot of the time he’s been good, but we also know he’s a really talented guy. We’re really seeing it in training.
“We’ve spoken candidly together about, ‘okay, not bad so far, but time to really show his worth now’. I think we can expect that from him, because he’s had to do his pre-season in the season.
“With the international break, he’s had a chance to take a bit of a deep breath and get ready to kick on now. We’ve had that conversation ourselves, and we’re looking forward to doing that.”
How many goals and assists do you think Jesse Lingard can get this season? Let us know in the comments
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