MyOnlySolskjaer
Creator of Player Performance threads
With young players, expecting them to be as good as world class players straight away is a sign of your own weird expecations. Nothing more. And the line of argument "We're United. We have a right to expect our players to be world class" similarly misses the point. There's no point developing young players if the standard you hold them up to within a few games of them being given a chance is impossible to meet. In the early months and years you use those performances as a guide to tell you what you might have in the future. This speaking in absolutes - "is/isn't good enough" is particularly galling with young players or managers, when anyone with an iota of common sense could tell you that progress isn't linear. 'Not being good enough now' doesn't mean you won't be in the future (though that's a general point and doesn't even relate to Lingard). It relies on hard work, relevant experience and some good luck and timing. A couple of years ago would anyone have expected Harry Kane to look like one of the best strikers in the league? Had they not hired Pochettino he probably wouldn't have gotten his chance, yet we now know he's more than capable of being a standout player at this level. Likewise, for all that Lingard isn't the finished product, he's heavily influencing the second best team (at the moment) in one the toughest leagues in the world, in one of the most tactically demanding systems which is particularly unforgiving on attacking players. All after less than a dozen games. Surely that's enough to tell us that what he needs now is time and support to see what he might become?
Agreed, excellent post.