Gary Neville On Lingard & Pogba

Gary Neville discusses Jesse Lingard's emergence and criticism of Paul Pogba.

Lethal Lingard

On the subject of key players, Jesse Lingard's improvement has shown he has everything you want from a Manchester United player.

Not in terms of skills necessarily but in terms of passion, commitment and loving the badge. Those are the most important characteristics for United players. Those players will always deliver more.

United is a big place to play and you have to have the desire and resilience. I've heard people challenge him, saying he's not good enough, saying get Henrikh Mkhitaryan in, get Anthony Martial in. No, let's get Lingard in because he has all of the characteristics you want.

People are viewing this period as a difficult period but he, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young are shining like lights because they've got the underbelly and fight.

What fans want is loyalty and care for the shirt and that is such an important characteristic. It shouldn't be underestimated what that has been to United since the '90s.

Sensitive subjects

Jose Mourinho has been defending Paul Pogba from his critics this week. One thing we have seen a lot more of is managers and players responding to things out of their control and I actually find it quite funny. Everybody is a bit sensitive and touchy these days.

When somebody pays £90m for you then you're going to be criticised. When you play for Manchester United you also get a lot of praise, fame and fortune, so for my part it is just part of the career of a footballer.

I remember Tony Adams saying to me early in my career that over your career of 18-20 years you are going to get praise and criticism in the media, but not to listen to either. You're going to have highs and lows and I have no idea why managers pay any attention to what is said on TV.

The worst thing is being ignored. If you are being talked about it means you are doing something right. Pogba has the right character and personality to play for Manchester United.

I liked him on the left against Everton and I liked him there against Burnley when he was putting balls into the box with his right foot and United had 24 shots. I think he's been good this season and he is a massive loss when he's out, so it is just about delivering in the big matches, which will come because he's still young.

Credit: Skysports.com