Sancho has not been made scapegoat and instead needs to repay Ten Hag for his support

September 1, 2022. Jadon Sancho scores the only goal for Manchester United in the club’s first away win under Erik ten Hag. Afterwards, Sancho shakes hands with journalists beneath Leicester’s main stand and is polite as he explains why he feels more freedom under his new boss on the field. “More information, a clearer plan on what to do, especially in some areas of the pitch. Definitely,” he says of Ten Hag’s methods. “The style of play in training is what we’re working on. Some of that you see, some of it is the intelligence of our players, creating and knowing each other well.” September 3, 2023. Sancho, 23 , doesn’t figure in Ten Hag’s squad as United lose again at Arsenal . Asked why not after the game, his manager says: “Jadon, on his performances in training we did not select him.” Sancho responds on social media and he’s not happy and suggests he has been made a scapegoat and has been “for a long time which isn’t fair!”. It’s a shame this is public and not dealt with internally but the manager chose for it to be. The outcome was that it briefly made headlines before the next negative Manchester United story came along – in this case two police forces investigating allegations of domestic violence by Antony , which the player strongly denies. Ten Hag could have easily said he was omitted for personal reasons, but the manager wanted to make the point public. Sancho and Ten Hag may both feel that they are right but there’ll likely be only one winner and it won’t be Sancho. The Londoner is also being disingenuous since Ten Hag, according to many sources within Old Trafford, has looked after Sancho. The manager was proactive in building a relationship with his player. He was friendly, positive, engaging and helpful, as he was with other players. When Sancho needed help in the month after the Leicester goal following a slump in form, Ten Hag was there to help and support him privately and publicly. Not every United manager in the post-Ferguson era had the same man-management skills. Players were hung out to dry publicly or simply ignored until they were moved on. That hasn’t happened between Sancho and Ten Hag. It was also in Ten Hag’s interest to try and get a tune out of a player who had underwhelmed since his move from Borussia Dortmund in 2021, which came with a vast €85 million fee. It would have been £30 million more if Dortmund had their way the previous year. United had pursued Sancho for a long time. Ten Hag is an intense disciplinarian. United needed that. If players – and it doesn’t matter which players, as Marcus Rashford twice found out last season – are late, then they get dropped. It’s nothing personal nor is it as painfully rigid as it was under Louis van Gaal, when one long-serving senior player decided he’d had enough after being admonished for being 28 seconds late to a meeting about a meeting. But Ten Hag sets the standards that have brought him success at his previous clubs. For Sancho to claim innocence is incorrect. He should be repaying Ten Hag with top performances since that’s how he’ll be judged. A scapegoat? Not from fans, like other players. Sancho has received nothing but support from United fans at games. There are and will always be abusive trolls online, but Sancho can have no complaints from the way fans have been patient with him in the hope that he’d become the player they thought he would be when he signed from Dortmund. That has yet to happen and United would have let Sancho leave in the summer had a sufficiently substantial offer come in for him. None did, which was no surprise give another mediocre season from the forward on vast wages. It’s not easy being a Manchester United player. The pressure is intense and that’s not for everyone. Ten Hag gets that and it’s a reason he’s so protective of his players. He’s also democratic and gives players several chances. He will likely speak to Sancho in private and try again with him, as he has done before when he sent him to the Netherlands last autumn to work on getting back into a place where he could play for him again. They were not the actions of someone who dislikes the player. Sancho still has a contract until 2026, with the option of another year from United. United fans will continue to support him at games when he plays. They want him to do well and he performed OK in pre-season. There have been the odd bright spots in his time at Old Trafford, his goals against Leicester and Liverpool a year ago being two. There’s little bright about Manchester United right now, but at least Sancho can properly prepare for the next games during this international break; he has not been selected by England for two years now.

Sancho has not been made scapegoat and instead needs to repay Ten Hag for his support

Manchester United winger took to social media to air his grievance after being left out of team