Manchester United Playing With More Freedom- Jesse Lingard

Jesse Lingard who scored the opening goal for Manchester United against Stoke City on Tuesday night says the team is playing with much more freedom after being given license to express themselves by manager Louis van Gaal.

United recorded back-to-back wins for only the second time in three months on Tuesday evening as they cruised to a 3-0 win over Stoke City at Old Trafford and after scoring six goals in their last two games, Lingard says United are in a position to entertain the fans once more. Lingard said who joined the club aged seven said “Now we are playing with that freedom and we've got a lot of energy in the team, to be mixing up the positions and entertain the crowd, we'll have to do that, but it's that freedom that we have, it's a weight off our shoulders and we can just play football now”

Still, failure to bridge the gap to the top four and secure Champions League football for next season would represent a hugely disappointing season for United and Lingard admits their difficult campaign has been down to the players, not Van Gaal saying “with the results, it's not the manager's fault, who put the hosts one up against the Potters with his third goal for the club. We are the ones who have been on the pitch playing. On Tuesday, you've seen that we can get results we need if we put our mind to it”.