Swansea 0 – Manchester United 2: Jesse Lingard brace settles Carabao Cup tie

Goals in either half from Jesse Lingard got Manchester United back on track as they eased effortlessly into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.

After their shock Premier League defeat at Huddersfield, United boss Jose Mourinho wanted a response and his side – dominated by plenty of experience but sprinkled with youth – did the business as Lingard’s first brace for his boyhood club saw the holders comfortable through.

The Red Devils always looked in control as they limited Swansea to at best half chances and they could and perhaps should have won by more.

After criticising his players for their performance in defeat on Saturday, Mourinho named a strong United side with Chris Smalling, Daley Blind, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford all starting.

Swansea manager Paul Clement made eight changes too, 21-year-old striker Oli McBurnie given the chance to lead the line with Wilfried Bony injured.

United, who beat Southampton to win this competition last year, started the stronger. Smalling headed a corner wide and Lingard tested Kristoffer Nordfeldt from distance.

Swansea barely had a kick and United’s only moment of worry came when Victor Lindelof – who was culpable for at least one of Huddersfield’s goals on Saturday – once again failed to deal with a long ball. Still, it was not long before United were ahead.

Ander Herrera’s pass was flicked on to Lingard by Rashford. Hardly needing an open invite, Lingard was given oceans of space by the Swansea defence and he made them pay by slotting home the opener. After their home loss to Leicester last Saturday, this was a case of more poor defending by Clement’s men.

Swansea’s only hope seemed to be Lindelof’s fragile confidence. The defender played Wayne Routledge onside but the Swansea man dallied and the chance was lost.

Minutes later, a Ki Sung-yueng cross was cleared by Blind but deflected off McBurnie and went wide.

United remained dangerous whenever they attacked, Lingard blazing into the side netting as he looked to make it a double for the evening.

Swansea were not helped by losing Martin Olsson – the only specialist left-back in their senior squad – to a hamstring injury suffered chasing down the electric Rashford.

Kyle Naughton was his replacement but he nearly gifted United another as his misplaced pass ended in Scott McTominay firing over while  Sam Clucas and McBurnie went close before the break.

United looked a class above Swansea in terms of their passing ability. Rashford – who brushed off a nasty tackle from Clucas – was a constant threat and Mourinho spent most of the second half looking bored witless on the United bench.

Before the hour mark, the game was over as a contest as Matteo Darmian’s cross from the right found Lingard and the England man took the ball first time to power a header into the back of the net.

Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic were introduced at the expense of Rashford and Herrera, perhaps with Saturday’s hosting of Tottenham in mind.

Clement, meanwhile, brought on Leroy Fer and Tammy Abraham and the latter brought a decent save from Sergio Romero.

So United remain in with a chance of defending last season’s cup success while for Swansea, Premier League survival remains the aim with Arsenal next up.

Double-scorer Lingard insists the players have but last weekend behind them: “I thought we were in control. We had to put things right today. We have learned from the weekend and we want to move on,” he said.

“It was my first header in a long time but I’m just happy however they go in. It is always good to win trophies, especially this one which comes so early in the season.”

Mourinho said: “We were in the game from the first minutes, pressing and forcing things, the attitude was good.

“Scott McTominay did very well, strong in the midfield. Axel Tuanzebe started maybe a little shaky but then we got stability and he came into it.”

And on his 400th match in English football, Mourinho said: “Of course I still get the same thrill from it but 2004 was along time ago. I’m more mature and have a different way to react to things.”

Swansea manager Paul Clement said his side have improved but they were not good enough to win this one: “It’s always disappointing when you lose a game. We played better than we have done in recent games but United deserved to win.

“We had a decent amount of chances but none that were really clear-cut and the nature of their goals was a little disappointing. 

“From our point of view we have to keep persevering and hope a good result is around the corner.”

Swansea (4-3-3): Nordfeldt; Rangel, Van der Hoorn, Mawson, Olsson (Naughton 38); Ki, Mesa (Fer 67), Clucas; Routledge, Ayew, McBurnie (Abraham 72). Booked: Rangel, Ki, Clucas.

Man United (3-4-2-1): Romero; Lindelof, Smalling, Tuanzebe, Darmian, Herrera (Matic 67), McTominay, Blind; Lingard, Martial (Shaw 87); Rashford (Lukaku 67). Booked: Tuanzebe, Blind. Goals: Lingard 21, 59.

Referee: R Madley (W Riding).