And when he was honest and said Sancho wasn't picked because of how he trained. We see how people reacted to that.
It's of no significance what he says in public, 90% of what managers say to the press is probably bullshit anyway. You can guarantee they discussed it in the background, Varane didn't sulk or mope, he's played quite well when he's been in the team playing on the right or the left.
What he actually said.
I don't think this supports the point you're trying to make. I've also not commented on Varane's reaction. He's a professional.
Ten Hag was honest and essentially said Sancho wasn't good enough to play compared to other players, and some people reacted badly to that. You are suggesting that he was being dishonest when he essentially said that Varane wasn't good enough to play compared to other players, but because he was dishonest in this case, it was somehow the right choice?
Maguire was playing well, and was commanding a place in the team on the right-side. That's fair enough. Evans had stepped in alongside him as Varane and Martinez were both injured, and we were playing Lindelof at left-back. Varane was back available, and Ten Hag explained his prolonged benching afterwards as a tactical decision (i.e. that Varane was not as good as Evans). Those videos prove this.
Varane has since revealed that he's been struggling with (for lack of a better term) a fitness/well-being issue. I fail to see how hiding this (if this was the reason he wasn't starting over this period) and instead making out that Varane was simply unable to do what Evans could do on the left side but then changing his mind on that, by playing Varane on the left and Evans on the right when Maguire got injured, was the best option. Nor do I see how masking a fitness/well-being issue behind a false excuse of tactical suitability/ability is comparable to simply saying "other players have trained better" and the player in question spitting his dummy out.
People are splitting hairs and being a bit petty about him and his actions now IMO
I mentioned the Varane thing as a third example of a wider point. If you think that's "splitting hairs and being a bit petty" then fair enough.