Drought-breaker Lingard wants more Old Trafford entertainment

Jesse Lingard hopes Manchester United can start to dazzle the Old Trafford crowd after breaking their home first-half goal drought.

The 23-year-old stooped to head the opener in the 3-0 win over Stoke City – the first time Louis van Gaal’s team have breached an opponent on home turf before the interval since September’s 2-1 Champions League victory over Wolfsburg.

Tuesday’s Premier League triumph helped to ease some of the growing pressure on the Dutch manager, with further goals from Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney finishing the job.

“We started very brightly and as soon as we got the first goal, we were confident of getting a second and third,” Lingard told MUTV.

“We needed to score goals, attack and entertain the crowd really. When we do that, we make the game easy for ourselves, so I think we should carry that on now.”

On France international Martial, he added: “If we keep feeding the ball to Anthony Martial, he can make things happen. 

“We knew from his [debut] goal against Liverpool what he could bring to the team – that pace, that power and he’s got a great goal in him.”