Erik ten Hag vs Sancho

[UnitedSofa]

Just a PR statement we have seen so many of our players put out after every bad performance. They put out these stupid statements but clearly don't care enough to show it on the pitch.

Oh here we go that “PR” statement.

At the speed at which that was written & posted he’s done this off his own back.

You/We (As fans) demand that players show passion and want to fight for the badge, yet as soon as they verbalise it (the effort on the pitch may be construed differently) it’s seen as “guff” - I have no doubt in my mind that they always give their all for the club. Question would rather be do they do it enough, do they do it with enough conviction?

But to throw this away as a “PR” line is nothing but pure ridiculousness.

 

[Care_de_Bobo]

I think ETH will be fine. Weve lost 2 games one being to potential champions

Not sure who you mean.

Arsenal aren't getting close this season based on their performances so far. Scraping past a United team without their 3 best central defenders, both left backs and 3 midfielders and getting all sorts of luck and decisions in their favour doesn't change that even if they do celebrate like they've just won the World Cup.

Spurs have looked far better, but can't seriously be considered title contenders.

 

[saik]

Eric simple shouldnt have said it. Nobody wins and even if its right, players dont like it even if its not about them. The dressing room gets fractured, toxic and people take sides. Off the back of the Greenwood stuff, Harry and others.....I suspect Eric will have lost the players respect of some players as a consequence.

Well, if those players support Greenwood and Harry, they can follow them out of the club. Greenwood we all know about and Harry is not a Manchester United quality player.

 

[Kaos]

Yet another boring saga we don't need. I thought we were done with these after the likes of Ronaldo and Pogba fecked off, but of course not a month can go by in this club without some pointless tabloid drama.

 

[Cassidy]

Yup. For a change, we will have someone to aim our long balls at. Onana, instead of hitting it out to Rashford(who was dogshit today in trying to win those long balls) will now look for Hojlund I'm sure.

We were always going to get another striker in only if Martial left. And we all know that no club in their right mind would take Martial on his salary right now. Hopefully, next season when Martial's contract ends and we let him go, we can get some decent backup striker in.

We didnt need Martial to leave. We could have signed Thuram or Dembele on a free or even sort out a loan deal

 

[PSV]

You expect him to say Martial is trash?

Given that he chose to alienate one of the alternatives he might as well. Why burn down half the forest?

 

[Litch]

I'm glad he said it. Players should learn they are either going to work their arses off and get on board with Erik or they aren't playing. If any players have lost respect for him then he should be able to show then the door.

Really so if Erik has been so supportive about Sancho's mental health, what the feck does this do to the lad? How would you feel if this was your colleague, son or friend?

 

[Big Ben Foster]

So nothing really improved in 4 years then. He still thinks he is being scapegoated. Time to leave Sancho. You can be a scapegoat somewhere at 1/4th of the salary you are earning now. And then you'll understand what every manager was trying to drill into your thick skull.

At 1/4 of his salary he'd still be too expensive for just about any club that would otherwise be interested in him. He's staying until his contract ends, unfortunately.

 

[Litch]

Well, if those players support Greenwood and Harry, they can follow them out of the club. Greenwood we all know about and Harry is not a Manchester United quality player.

Thats not what Im saying. There are things bigger than football and if the club makes this big thing about 'players wellbeing and duty of care', how does this help Sancho's mental health? Makes a mockery about the whole BS of sending him away for 'support'....

 

[croadyman]

Yet another toxic episode at this soap opera of a club,still not convinced Erik won't walk at some point due to the mess above him. Everyone has a breaking point and see him reaching it eventually

 

[saik]

Oh here we go that “PR” statement.

At the speed at which that was written & posted he’s done this off his own back.

You/We (As fans) demand that players show passion and want to fight for the badge, yet as soon as they verbalise it (the effort on the pitch may be construed differently) it’s seen as “guff” - I have no doubt in my mind that they always give their all for the club. Question would rather be do they do it enough, do they do it with enough conviction?

But to throw this away as a “PR” line is nothing but pure ridiculousness.

Fair enough if you think it's not PR and that they give their all on the pitch. I don't.

Do you think Rashford could have done more today? I do. Not saying Rashford released any statement today but he does have previous.

Do you think Sancho could have done more in his United career until now? I do. So, I don't think they give their all on the pitch club all the time. But when we have a bad result/when they are called out, the statements are out to protect themselves.

And, that's where they lack the standards to be a United player for me. At the minimum, you have to be willing to give your everything all the time. Instead of writing that statement, Sancho could have tried to prove ETH wrong on the training pitch.

 

[Ibi Dreams]

ETH hasn't said this about anyone else, and he hasn't had to say this about anyone else. Singling out Sancho like this clearly indicates there's a problem with him. He is either not responding well to coaching/management or not looking after himself outside of the training ground, imo. If it was a mental issue I don't think ETH would say this in public.

 

[BeltUp]

Really so if Erik has been so supportive about Sancho's mental health, what the feck does this do to the lad? How would you feel if this was your colleague, son or friend?

I'd advise them to leave if the pressure is too much, just like many people with mental health issues do in jobs that don't pay hundreds of thousands of pounds per week.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

The hilarious part is that if Sancho says nothing(like he should have) this is a non-story since ETH only answered a question.

The fact he thinks he's been scapegoat is a joke. He's been given preferential treatment by ETH before and he's decided to cry victim on Twitter now when he feels he's being targeted.

The entitlement certain athletes have nowadays is pathetic.

The fact that Sancho complained about this previously(at Dortmund) and other managers complained about his effort says it all.

 

[saik]

Thats not what Im saying. There are things bigger than football and if the club makes this big thing about 'players wellbeing and duty of care', how does this help Sancho's mental health? Makes a mockery about the whole BS of sending him away for 'support'....

I don't think it does. ETH has given Sancho ample opportunities and he has failed to impress. I read this as ETH's final attempt at challenging Sancho to improve. Like how he did previously with Garnacho and Rashford. They responded with getting their heads down and working whereas Sancho opted to release a statement instead.

 

[reddevilz007]

Probably that’s why Rashford hasn’t been at his best. His bestie not getting picked

 

[saik]

We didnt need Martial to leave. We could have signed Thuram or Dembele on a free or even sort out a loan deal

Yea, but we know how the owners are. Probably didn't want to sanction another striker signing.

 

[hobbers]

Yes indeed on how many minutes? And contribution goes more than goals and assists anyway.

Our overall play last season when Martial played was a lot better. We looked a better team without Sancho

Per minute isnt relevant if its just about what they contributed. They are both deadweights.

When either plays its like playing with 10 men.

 

[DutchSerb]

We didnt need Martial to leave. We could have signed Thuram or Dembele on a free or even sort out a loan deal

I would've loved a Joao Felix loan deal if it wasn't for Barca. Was the only fun player to watch in that Chelsea team last season.

 

[Litch]

I'd advise them to leave if the pressure is too much, just like many people with mental health issues do in jobs that don't pay hundreds of thousands of pounds per week.

The money has nothing to do but thats not my point. If Erik is sympathetic about players wellbeing, then the matter would not be dealt with publicly. It sends out the wrong message.

 

[Cassidy]

Per minute isnt relevant if its just about what they contributed. They are both deadweights.

When either plays its like playing with 10 men.

Quite obviously it does matter if its about what they contributed. Martial was a key player start of last season

 

[Litch]

I don't think it does. ETH has given Sancho ample opportunities and he has failed to impress. I read this as ETH's final attempt at challenging Sancho to improve. Like how he did previously with Garnacho and Rashford. They responded with getting their heads down and working whereas Sancho opted to release a statement instead.

So you have an issue with your MH, your boss sends a global email to everyone in the company that you are rubbish at your job? Is the equivalent as someone saying 'pull yourself together'....really supportive eh?

 

[redIndianDevil]

For feck’s sake. Exactly what we didn’t need now. Both of them are in the wrong for me. EtH has no reason to say that to the media, Sancho had no reason to post that. EtH could have easily phased him out during the transfer window if he wasn’t impressed with Sancho. Sancho has nothing to show for all his talk, at least the likes of Martial has shown something in their careers here but Sancho has been bang average under all managers. He best go back to Germany or Spain.

 

[NotQuiteManc]

I think this one is on Sancho. EtH did everything from protecting him to giving him (so much) time to sort out whatever that had been bothering him. So, the reply was probably EtH running out of patience with Sancho and I imagine he did this because nothing seems to work.

 

[Ibi Dreams]

[/QUOTE]

The money has nothing to do but thats not my point. If Erik is sympathetic about players wellbeing, then the matter would not be dealt with publicly. It sends out the wrong message.

He's been sympathetic. He allowed Sancho to leave the squad and train privately abroad for a couple of months. This is pretty unheard of tbh. We don't even know why this happened, but from an outside perspective it looks like ETH was very accommodating to whatever Sancho needed. For ETH to be saying this now really suggests to me that Sancho hasn't hit whatever target ETH set for him. And all he said was that Sancho didn't make the cut in training - this is not sacrilege, he's allowed to say that if it's true.

 

[Litch]

For feck’s sake. Exactly what we didn’t need now. Both of them are in the wrong for me. EtH has no reason to say that to the media, Sancho had no reason to post that. EtH could have easily phased him out during the transfer window if he wasn’t impressed with Sancho. Sancho has nothing to show for all his talk, at least the likes of Martial has shown something in their careers here but Sancho has been bang average under all managers. He best go back to Germany or Spain.

If Erik didnt say it, then Sancho doesnt post it. If Erik doesnt rate him, phase him out. Also the timing of saying it couldnt be much worse. There is being ruthless, I think we need it but there are ways to do it.

 

[hobbers]

Quite obviously it does matter if its about what they contributed. Martial was a key player start of last season

Are you absolutely sure about that?

 

[saik]

So you have an issue with your MH, your boss sends a global email to everyone in the company that you are rubbish at your job? Is the equivalent as someone saying 'pull yourself together'....really supportive eh?

ETH didn't say Sancho was rubbish. Just that others performed better than him and were rightly picked ahead of him. And you see this all the time in companies where they recognize and reward better performers in every team.

 

[FriedClams]

Big mistake from sancho. ETH won the war v Ronaldo, so this one only ends one way. Cash in on him asap

 

[Devil You Know]

I will always give United players the benefit of the doubt if I can. Because I'm a fan and that's what it means to be one:

To be fair while this statement is ill advised, I think people are misinterpreting it. I think Sancho is focusing on the people stirring up shit about Ten Hag's comments rather than criticising Ten Hag. Like we see Ten Hag saying he's not up to standards in training and people are (understandably) then saying he's lazy, not putting effort in etc which is probably infuriating for Sancho.

He shouldn't have made this statement but I think it's not aimed at the manager hence the ending paragraph. I don't see this as the doom and gloom statement and drama that most here seem to. Just poor wording. Like you can really tell he wrote this himself rather than his PR team doing some generic copy and paste bullshit.

This is a comment I saw on reddit which I think gets quite close to the truth.

It's important to look at this from Sancho's point of view.

Yes, he would have seen a statement from Ten Hag. But he also would have seen a hundred statements from people abusing him online as a result. It doesn't take much of a stretch to see he's addressing his response to those trolls.

I've been as critical as anyone of Sancho in the last few weeks. But I think we need to take a moment before bringing out the knives.

I bet we'll see comments from both player and manager calming down the controversy over the next day or two.

 

[Cassidy]

Are you absolutely sure about that?

Yes those games where he played even for half we played some of our best football. Look at the results. His issue last season was his availability

 

[meamth]

There's only one reason. He was late somewhere in the week.

 

[prateik]

Well, if those players support Greenwood and Harry, they can follow them out of the club. Greenwood we all know about and Harry is not a Manchester United quality player.

Pretty much every article covering the topic said ETH wanted Greenwood back..
And I agree.. whoever wanted Greenwood back should follow him out of the club.

 

[Litch]

ETH didn't say Sancho was rubbish. Just that others performed better than him and were rightly picked ahead of him. And you see this all the time in companies where they recognize and reward better performers in every team.

As good as. Reward yes, but publicly belittle him? Im not Sancho's biggest fan, just think it could be dealt better with. Also questions the managers sincerity about his understanding of mental health. If he made this song and dance of supporting him, this does nothing for Sachos mental health.

 

[BeltUp]

The money has nothing to do but thats not my point. If Erik is sympathetic about players wellbeing, then the matter would not be dealt with publicly. It sends out the wrong message.

And my point was never about wellbeing. My point is about what's good for the club and strong leadership.

 

[RedRonaldo]

I think he has simply decided he wants to leave. Players simply never make comments like that against manager in public, unless he wants to leave.

 

[Oscar Bonavena]

Is there anyone who still seriously believes that Sancho will eventually end up a success at United? If so, what in particular about his performances to date has led you to that belief?

Because I'm seriously stumped trying to think of a reason.

 

[saik]

Pretty much every article covering the topic said ETH wanted Greenwood back..
And I agree.. whoever wanted Greenwood back should follow him out of the club.

Yea and I'm willing to give ETH the benefit of doubt that he doesn't fully know about the issue as he only joined the club midway(through the issue) and trusted the clubs decision/verdict. If otherwise, it's a no-go for me. ETH can follow him out as well.

Anyways, let's get the topic back to Sancho as we are in his thread. He is stupid to be releasing that statement instead of getting his head down and trying to prove the manager wrong.

 

[saik]

As good as. Reward yes, but publicly belittle him? Im not Sancho's biggest fan, just think it could be dealt better with. Also questions the managers sincerity about his understanding of mental health. If he made this song and dance of supporting him, this does nothing for Sachos mental health.

To each to their own. I don't think he's belittling him in anyway. ETH even mentioned in the same response that he has no issues with Sancho's conduct and just that others trained better and he had other options in the positions that Sancho plays so he was left out.

 

[RC89]

Wouldn't mind the manager playing tough with Sancho if he would do the same with Athony. But his name is against the Anthony signing so he will persist.

While I think there's truth behind your point, Antony has so far proven to be poor value, Sancho is literally useless. You don't pay the premium you do for Anthony for work rate but atleast he has that much. Sancho, literally offers nothing in either direction for most of nearly all games he plays in.