ETH hasn't managed Barcelona with Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Alves, and Puyol.
After covering for him for years, SAF finally sold him to help him get away from the lifestyle in Manchester.
Nobody knows for sure and it could change in the blink of an eye, such is the results based and fickle nature of football but I guess you could ask Ronaldo, Rashford, De Gea, Maguire, Garnacho, Fred, AWB, Shaw (i.e all ones that suffered some 'punishment') to the the likes of Varane, Casemiro, Martinez, Bruno, Antony, Eriksen (who have publicly backed the manager) if they knew who the boss was and who was the one making the decisions.
Thing is it’s the timing of it all. Did we need this drama in the middle of such a huge injury crisis, poor form and all the shit from Greenwood and Antony?
Okay I know this is the Manchester United forum and we have to hate everything City related but this is the one of the biggest pieces of bullshit I’ve read in this forum.
Your reply perhaps proves my point about perspective. For ETH this isn't drama, this is just managing Man Utd and he don't give a shit if it's about Antony, Sancho or the injury crisis. He's got bigger things to worry about and to be fair to him, he's always been very consistent, 'it's about the players available and the performances in the next game'.
This isn't true. His playing career ended in 2006, in 2007 he is given a head coaching job with Barca B and is fast tracked after one season. This isn't some Ange Postecoglu 25 year climb to the summit.
Nothing was “afforded” to him. Of course as a successful player he gets a leg up obviously. He must have really worked hard to be a world class footballer.
So sold him after he had enough… exactly my point
SAF knew which player he could trash, and which player he should talk to in person. That is what I want.
All ETH said was that he hadn't been picked because we have options in attack and his training performances didn't merit a place ahead of others. If that's thrashing a player, we're fecked
The ball is firmly in Sancho's court, if he apologises and starts training and behaving like a professional then there may be a way back for him. It would set a terrible example if they just agreed to disagree and he was brought back into the squad after undermining the manager.
1. The ball is in both of their courts.
Good post. I’ve backed ten Hag on this all the way. I’m not having that because he was making questionable team selections and transfers that that absolved the leeway for him to criticise Sancho not being up to standard.
If it's enough for ten Hag then I'd respect his decision and move on, but it seems he has made it clear that for Sancho to have a path back to the first team he needs to offer an apology. Backing down now makes him look weak when he's done nothing wrong (in most people's eyes) and could lead to losing the dressing room. If you effectively call your manager a liar and say you're being scapegoated it's not something to just agree to disagree over and won't be swept under the rug, especially for a player who hasn't performed on the pitch for the vast majority of his United career.
Don't know how this is not clear, but there is no ball anymore.
If you look at the actual back and forth and not the media furore and consequent angry online discourse, it was actually a lot more tame than that. It could have easily been squashed then, and can still be squashed now. Of course most are backing the manager, he could have handled it better imo but he hasn't done anything wrong.
What he should have said was Sancho is turning up late for training so hes not been picked. Sancho couldnt have argued then.
Your sitting hairs with that one. The criticism wasn't that bad and he had already tried the sensitive, nice approach. Sancho is a petulant child and if he didn't give that away with his post he did with everything since then. Whether EtH criticised his general attitude or got a bit more specific to focus on time keeping, Sancho is a sensitive Sally with little self awareness.
You have no idea whether Ten Hag tried talking multiple times to Sancho in person. In fact there's evidence to suggest he probably did.
We were facing Arsenal. None of us would have wanted our manager to focus on preparing excuses about not picking Sancho. He gave a valid reason and Sancho reacted awfully.
That's wishful thinking. Do you really think that someone that's so thin skinned that he lashes out at the suggestion he hasn't trained well over the past week would just sit there and accept that his lack of professionalism has been publicly exposed?
I agree with your post. But I ask..
If he does and Sancho bangs in 15 or so goals this season helping us on our campaign, it will be talked about as a masterstroke. Personally, I hope he does what he needs to so we can kill this nonsense and move on, without breaking his principles obviously.
That's an interesting question: What should a manager do in such a situation? What is his most important goal: to preserve his pride and authority or to get the maximum out of the league competition?
I’m sure he would be allowed back if he just apologised but you feel his career here at United is done now as long as Ten Hag is the manager. Sancho seems to dislike people who try to make him accountable and you just can’t work with that if you have any form of standards.
Nothing I have seen from Sancho so far suggests this is remotely possible.
Have you watched Sancho play in the last 3 seasons? There is very little evidence that would suggest that him not being picked will have any kind of negative impact on where we finish in the league.
I’d like to see him take on the fullback first and foremost.
Last year he was the third highest scorer and the fourth highest provider of assists in the club. So he made a certain contribution. Maybe not as much as people fairly expected, but in the world of "small margins" he still had his impact.
