Quote:
Originally Posted by S/Side.Red
Yep. Lingard especially does lots of work off the ball. You'd think by now people might appreciate that there's a reason he's so valued by managers and his teammates. His contribution to the collective is always good.
He's not a world-beater but if he was a free agent tomorrow he'd have his pick of many top clubs.
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone dispute the fact that he works hard, or that his movement around the pitch doesn’t unsettle a defence;
all constant movement unsettles a defence. The real question is, has that alone become the new standard for a first team United player?
Off the ball contributions are all very well, so long as it doesn’t serve to avoid the question of what a player does
on the ball. So what does he do on the ball? Does he score? Does he create? Is there any x factor that makes the difference between a loss and a win? Just saying that what he does makes other players better is passing the buck. We’re Man Utd supporters - we all love the history of local academy players making it here, but that alone isn’t enough. They have to be better than the alternative, even if that alternative is a 32 year old Albanian, because otherwise you’re putting an ideal ahead of reality. Players get a chance here, but then it’s up to them to meet the standard, and Lingard doesn’t unless you lower it.
To the question of free agency and clubs queueing up for him, of course they would. We live in a world where Gylfi Sygurdssen goes for 50m and Aaron Ramsey gets 400k per week. The real question should be which other top team’s first 11 would he be an upgrade on what they already have?
We need difference makers, not squad fillers.