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Things to know about Jesse Lingard
In the summer of 2018 Jesse Lingard’s career could hardly have been in a better place having enjoyed a breakthrough 12 months for club and country. Joe Townsend looks at the possible reasons why that has proved to be the high point. Interested in soccer betting? Check out free soccer tips page!
When Jesse Lingard stepped off the plane at Birmingham Airport in July 2018 alongside his England team-mates and their coaching staff, they were returning to the country as heroes.
Gareth Southgate’s side may not have brought the trophy back from Russia, but in becoming the first England men's side to reach a major tournament semi-final for 22 years, and the first ever lớn win a World Cup penalty shootout, they had defied pre-tournament expectations and more importantly captured the hearts of a nation.
Like so many of that squad, for Lingard, at 25-years-old, it should have been a launching-off point, the platform from which he would blossom.
But he is far from in the minority when it comes lớn his career stalling, or even declining, since English football's unforgettable summer.
So let’s start there.
Now this is a piece about Jesse Lingard, so I’ll aim to be brief, but the plight of that England squad since Russia provides useful context.
I would suggest that only soccer vip tip win, and just four of the starting XI, have unequivocally taken the 2018 World Cup in their stride: Harry Maguire, Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Nick Pope.
That is a very low strike-rate. And I’m not the only one who thinks so: only 12 of that 23 were included in Gareth Southgate’s most recent England squad.
Survivors from England’s 2018 World Cup squad
- Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope
- Trent Alexander-Arnold, Harry Maguire, Danny Rose, John Stones, Kieran Trippier
- Fabian Delph, Jordan Henderson
- Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling
Of the players who have struggled for form there are Kyle Walker and John Stones, Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Ruben Loftus-Cheek - I think you get the picture.
Trippier and Rose have spoken openly about how difficult they found the season following the World Cup, with Trippier ultimately leaving Tottenham lớn join Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2019 for a fresh start. Rose moved lớn Newcastle a few months later.
Their long-time Spurs team-mate Dier has perhaps been one of the best examples of form dropping off a cliff. He has only recently begun lớn show some kind of resurgence since the arrival of Jose Mourinho, after 18 months in the wilderness.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek – a breakout star of the tournament – has had injury problems lớn deal with, but his 2018/19 season was defined by a complete lack of playing time at Chelsea.
This cannot all be coincidental. Perhaps being part of an England team that reached the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time in almost 30 years takes its toll, the sheer emotional upheaval of it.
Plus, were England's individual players really that good? The combination of superb management from Southgate, successfully making the team greater than the sum of its parts, and a favourable draw were crucial in the outcome.
Maybe expecting that summer not to be the pinnacle for so many is simply unrealistic.
Add in the effect of an elongated season and consequently shortened pre-season, far from an ideal way lớn prepare for the rigours of the most physically demanding top flight in European football, and we may be hitting on lớn something.
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