He was very good in the buildup. But just lacked that punch in the final third. I’d say it’s a step in the right direction. If he recovers the standard of his general play I’d say he’s at least made progress to being the player he once was
25
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 41
- Goals
- 7
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 0
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
- Status
I saw a footballer today. His name is Jadon Sancho and when I was told his name. For a minute all I could think of was Michael Jordan.
Good contribution from the lad.
Good contribution from the lad.
Unfortunately, all of the above is true.
If Garnacho returns to the level he was at before he got injured, then he has nothing to worry about if Sancho isn't going to improve on any of the points above.
More like Michael Bolton.
Haha
Sancho needs to play in the Messi CF/False 9 position and I say that as a fan who never really rated Sancho.
His turning and skills become more deadly in those area because he becomes a much harder player to read but in the winger position he just cannot beat a man, because his turns do crap all.
He then has the ability to make passes (usually he plays through balls) for his wider forwards or can score a goal himself.
Otherwise I see him doing crap all.
https://youtube.com/shorts/r79yu8DrDQY?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/57ltK1mZUGo?feature=share
He just doesn’t get in to key positions to be an important player from out wide - so to use him you have to start him in a very important position in the first place rather than letting him find key positions during the whole game.
This is why Sancho got moved to CAM by Ten Hag - which is right but he needs to play even further up as someone who gets to create the final chance himself to play the through ball or shoot.
His turning and skills become more deadly in those area because he becomes a much harder player to read but in the winger position he just cannot beat a man, because his turns do crap all.
He then has the ability to make passes (usually he plays through balls) for his wider forwards or can score a goal himself.
Otherwise I see him doing crap all.
https://youtube.com/shorts/r79yu8DrDQY?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/57ltK1mZUGo?feature=share
He just doesn’t get in to key positions to be an important player from out wide - so to use him you have to start him in a very important position in the first place rather than letting him find key positions during the whole game.
This is why Sancho got moved to CAM by Ten Hag - which is right but he needs to play even further up as someone who gets to create the final chance himself to play the through ball or shoot.
Last edited:
He needs to play as a left back.....left back in the changing room!
The only way to salvage the money wasted in him is to somehow turn him into a midfielder because he is too little of an attacking threat, other wise we are looking at a massive loss trying to shift him on which I am not against to be honest as it does the club no favours when negotiating other player wages to stay or sign for club as their agents will point to the money sancho makes despite the lack of productivity for such a hefty wage and was the same issue we had when we had the likes of pogba, ronaldo and sanchez on the books
It's definitely true that he only seems to back himslef or come alive once in and around the penalty area.
I don't know where we play him anymore. His technical control is probably the best in the team but he can't get away from his man, which makes him hopeless out wide. He's physically too weak and slow to play out wide but does he have the creativity and instinct to move centrally? And then where does Bruno go?
Reading the comments in here I can't help but thinking it's primarily the pashun and kick'n'rush fraction that hate on Sancho. I guess some people just can't accept that the role of modern wingers has changed.
Even if Manchester United has finally become much more progressive since Solskjaer is gone, many fans still seem backwards oriented and can't let go of the archetypes of players they grew up with. Sancho might not be great right now, but if he ran all the time at defenders dribbling into blind alleys, put in some alibi crosses, took a few low percentage long shots with a passionate facial expression, he'd probably be reviewed more positively. Which is a bit ironic. Everytime I watch United, I think what that team desperately needs is somebody with patience who does the easy things right instead of trying the outrageous stuff at the first occasion. Yet people seem to want exactly that from him.
He would've made life much easier for himself had he moved to Spain. If he really wanted to play EPL, he probably should have picked City or Arsenal.
Even if Manchester United has finally become much more progressive since Solskjaer is gone, many fans still seem backwards oriented and can't let go of the archetypes of players they grew up with. Sancho might not be great right now, but if he ran all the time at defenders dribbling into blind alleys, put in some alibi crosses, took a few low percentage long shots with a passionate facial expression, he'd probably be reviewed more positively. Which is a bit ironic. Everytime I watch United, I think what that team desperately needs is somebody with patience who does the easy things right instead of trying the outrageous stuff at the first occasion. Yet people seem to want exactly that from him.
He would've made life much easier for himself had he moved to Spain. If he really wanted to play EPL, he probably should have picked City or Arsenal.
That’s spot on. However I think there’s a balance. Yesterday Sancho was really crisp and on point with his play in the buildup and personally I’d take him doing that until the end of the season. But you also have to appreciate that at the end day at a big club an attacker also has to be penetrative in their play and contribute to the scoring of goals.
I don’t think there’s a tad too much stress here on 90s wingplay. Players earn more credit through a bustling run which results in nothing than an intelligent pass that keeps the move flowing.
I thought he played alright last night, in what was a pretty awful game of football. Brentford came to defend, and that they did. So he didn't have a great deal of space to work with, and I thought he handled that pretty well. I mean, we're judging from a very low bar here because he wasn't spectacular, but in the circumstances, he was better than I've seen over the past few weeks (months?).
Starting to remind me of Van De Beek.
Played well last night I thought - I think ETH pulled him because he'll start against Everton on the weekend. He's under a lot of pressure with Garnacho behind him. Needs to do a lot more to justify his transfer fee and wages though. Cant blame Woodward really, we all wanted him - now we are stuck with him.
That's not a fair comment at all. Most top modern wingers are very, very direct. The Grealish type winger, is not really the standard of modern winger. There's also Mo Salah, Mane, Neymar, Vini Jr, Saka, Sane, Rashford... I could go on forever. The directness has changed compared to previous decades, only in the sense that instead of putting crosses in they now mostly shoot. Because now they are wide forwards, playing on the opposite side of their dominant foot and there's usually only ever 1 striker in the box (if at all) as opposed to 2 in the old days.
But vast majority of them are very direct players with a lot of dribbling, shooting and ultimately end product. The wide playmakers of the B.Silva or Grealish type are only really a Pep thing, since he values possession and dominance extremely highly.
Last edited:
Literally all Sancho did in the Bundesliga is beat the high line offside trap by kick n’rush and then play a sideways mini pass for the striker to tap in & repeat. It’s why his assists were stupid level in the Bundesliga. His mini passes do shit all in the premier league because no one gives that space and the opposition doesn’t let him play at this ‘slow’ pace we should be playing for him apparently.
Yet we are the one’s with the passion for Kick n’rush apparently.
Yeah this is all slow possesion build up - in my colon
When the f*ck Dortmund play like Barcelona or a Pep team?
One of the most kick n’rush teams of all time from their gegenpressing times.
Yet we are the one’s with the passion for Kick n’rush apparently.
Yeah this is all slow possesion build up - in my colon
When the f*ck Dortmund play like Barcelona or a Pep team?
One of the most kick n’rush teams of all time from their gegenpressing times.
Last edited:
He's best on the break, that's always been obvious. I think we knew that when we signed him; after all, at that point Ole was playing fairly counter-attacking football. He made much more sense in that system than in Ten Hag's.
His best games for ETH have been at #10. I'm surprised we aren't using him there more, particularly now when we're being forced to use Bruno in midfield to cover Casemiro.
Against Everton we could try:
GK
RB CB CB LB
Bruno Fred
Antony Sancho Rashford
Sabitzer
RB CB CB LB
Bruno Fred
Antony Sancho Rashford
Sabitzer
(With Sabitzer playing the same role he did against Brentford, essentially the Weghorst role but competent.)
That's a pretty bizarre formation if you can play Martial. And why not play Sabitzer deeper and Bruno as a false 9? Bruno's high risk play is not suited to deeper positions imo.
Was alright last night. He didn’t take on his man much but he did show some good movement, good link up play and ball retention in some tight spots. You can see why there is an argument that we haven’t found his best position. I do think it is inside left with a raiding full back a left sided central midfielder joining in with the attack.
For me when everyone is back 433 false 9
GK
RB-RCB-LCB-LB
Bruno-Casemiro- Eriksen
Antony- Sancho/Martial -Rashford
Sancho can drop deep and overlap Antony or Rashford on both flanks or centrally aim to finish chances/create them by the through balls he routinely plays.
Just drop Weghorst from our squad.
Bruno can be our Iniesta, Eriksen be our Xavi and Casemiro our Busquets.
I think Sancho should get a run in the team, with Rashford at 10 but with the potential to switch them around.
Sancho at false nine is interesting but we really would have noone to hold it up in that case. We need Martial back.
Sancho at false nine is interesting but we really would have noone to hold it up in that case. We need Martial back.
He’s miles better than VDB
Not miles (not for us anyway)
First things first, the way you describe it it sounds as if Sancho is a slow player. He's not in the top 5% fastest attackers but he's still decently fast. From the top of my memory, he hit a top speed of 35 km/h last season which is quite impressive. I don't know where the notion he's a slug comes from, maybe it is because of body language or him not really relying on pace, but he's definitely much more pacey than given credit for in here.
Second, some of the players you mentioned are really weird picks. For instance, BVB Sancho was the closest thing you could get to Neymar who himself is definitely a player that lives off his technique, vision, interplay and decision making, not his pace or physique. He's probably the prime example of a wide playmaker alongside Messi - who probably hasn't run faster than 33 km/h for the last 5 years or so. Then you mentioned Mané who has ben nothing short of horrible for Bayern this season. Horrible is probably a bit too harsh on Sané but he has also been very disappointing for Bayern so far.
And in general, although Sancho definitely has been disappointing for United all things considered, I have no doubt that United fans in general underestimate the type of player he is and how much these players contribute by doing the small things right. Moreover, it is particularly hard for these type of players when they are surrounded by "go big or go home" types such as Bruno, Rashford or Pogba. Because when one party is playing it simple and patiently waiting for the right situations to risk possession losses but the other is always picking the risky option right away, what you get is one player who looks as if he always only chooses the save option.
Light years
Or just the Bundesliga is shit and easy to do well in.
I think you’re a bit protective of Sancho because how well he played in Germany.
Both have been poor for us, in my opinion, so miles is a stretch, just my opinion though
Sancho is quite obviously light years better in terms of ability
For me, Sancho is still a good footballer. He’s not lighting things up and that’s disappointing because he has so much ability. But this level of his where he isn’t taking on defenders and impacting results is still far ahead of the nothing footballer that is VDB. Last night is a good example, he didn’t win us the game or rip any fullback a new one, but his contribution to the buildup phase was very good - VDB would just be out there faffing about wearing his invisibility cloak and doing absolutely nothing.
Its not miles for me, and yes Sancho is a good footballer and has been better than VDB
Did you respond to the correct post? Doesn’t look like it.
You’re fixating on speed for some reason in your response, which I didn’t even mention at all. Read the post again. I mentioned three attributes of modern wingers: directness, dribbling and shooting. Neymar and Messi completed A LOT of take ons in their time as wingers and they also took a lot of shots on and scored. Neymar's skillset wasn't just vision and interplay. It was also dribbling and shooting. Messi in particular has always been deadly outside the box. He’s not just a playmaker and if we’re honest, he wasn’t even a playmaker in the first part of his career that catapulted him to fame. The playmakers were Xavi and Iniesta, Messi was taking players on and scoring goals.
Then you go in about how some of the examples are weird picks because Mane at 30 is having a bad first season at Bayern. As if Mane hasn't been one of the best wingers in the world in last 5 years and the last 5 years are not modern times. What are you even on about?
Sancho doesn't take players on and he doesn't get many shots off. He hasn't shown a cutting edge at his time in United, he's more like a midfielder than a winger or forward. So his playstyle overlap with players like Neymar and Messi at same ages is minimal. Never seen a more tragic comparison.
Last edited:
God damn pashun and kick-n-run merchants !
Sancho for Dortmund basically builded a statistical cohort of his own with Messi and Neymar in key attacking KPIs such as goals, assists, successful dribbles, key passes, chances created, and so forth. Seriously, these two are the last you can bring up as examples to be held against him. They are definitely not the direct wide forwards you're describing but playmakers who work their magic from wing positions, just like Sancho. Just for the record, in the 20/21 season, Sancho was...
... best 23% in goals
... best 5% in assists
... best 3% in progressive carries
... best 1% in progressive carrying distance
... best 2% in carries into final third
... best 7% in carries into penalty area
... best 2% in progressive passes
... best 3% in progressive passes received
... best 1% in passes completed
... best 1% in passes attempted
... best 3% in key passes
... best 1% in passes into penalty area
... best 6% in through balls
... best 2% in shot creating actions
... best 3% in goal creating actions
... best 1% in touches
... best 3% in take ons attempted
... best 5% in successful dribbles
among all wingers and attacking midfielders in the world.
That's the player you bought. The closest thing you could get to Neymar.
Which shows just how low the quality is in the German league.
Buddy, honestly now, have you lost your goddamn mind?
Messi and Neymar had the highest number of attempted and completed take ons per 90 at Sancho's age, even later. They were also on the highest deciles for shots taken on and goals scored. They were not direct? What is your definition of direct?
Here's your amazing 20/21 compared for Sancho, Messi, Neymar. Messi is like 33 already here, he was even more direct when he was younger. Even though Sancho take ons are impressive, his numbers are considerably lower than Neymar and old man Messi. Neymar is at 9.8 take ons per 90, to Sancho's 6. And Neymar 29 years old here, not 21. But more importantly, Sancho was never at the highest deciles for scoring and shooting like Neymar and Messi. Even in the easy league for forwards that is the Bundesliga.
Also, Sancho is in those deciles for about 2 years at Dortmund. Which makes it cherry picking. Neymar and Messi were in those deciles, consistently, for over a decade.
Last edited:
Something is not right with him and I've been saying it for months.
Sancho that earned all the plaudits and acclaim was persistently aggressive in intent to hurt the opposition. Even if things didn't work out, he was game to try again, or even choose a different route to unlock a puzzle. He had no hesitation in his offensive game and it was guaranteed the opposition would know they've been in a game that had them mentally switched on for the entirety of his time on the pitch. All of that has evaporated, before we talk about ability in and of itself.
His aggression and confidence is non-existent and when things don't work out, he's shrinking as opposed to his previous self who would try even harder.
There's a whole load of grandstanding going on about the player, but if the underlying issues aren't resolved, everything else is a redundancy, or at least built on shaky foundations that can (and probably will) come crashing down.
There is a specific type of football he thrives in. We don't play it, but it's not really the point by now - within himself, he's not driving or striving for maximum output/effort, whichever way you want to phrase it, things aren't right with him and I'd even question if we were optimal for him at the moment, would he himself be able to perform like he did at Dortmund? I'd wager no.
If those underlying issues aren't resolved an exceptional talent could well go down as a tragic waste. There are a few players I could list here that happened to, but I'd rather not as casting aspersions on what is actually wrong with him is beyond the pale.
I sincerely hope the summer break and preseason has him back in working order as a player.
Sancho that earned all the plaudits and acclaim was persistently aggressive in intent to hurt the opposition. Even if things didn't work out, he was game to try again, or even choose a different route to unlock a puzzle. He had no hesitation in his offensive game and it was guaranteed the opposition would know they've been in a game that had them mentally switched on for the entirety of his time on the pitch. All of that has evaporated, before we talk about ability in and of itself.
His aggression and confidence is non-existent and when things don't work out, he's shrinking as opposed to his previous self who would try even harder.
There's a whole load of grandstanding going on about the player, but if the underlying issues aren't resolved, everything else is a redundancy, or at least built on shaky foundations that can (and probably will) come crashing down.
There is a specific type of football he thrives in. We don't play it, but it's not really the point by now - within himself, he's not driving or striving for maximum output/effort, whichever way you want to phrase it, things aren't right with him and I'd even question if we were optimal for him at the moment, would he himself be able to perform like he did at Dortmund? I'd wager no.
If those underlying issues aren't resolved an exceptional talent could well go down as a tragic waste. There are a few players I could list here that happened to, but I'd rather not as casting aspersions on what is actually wrong with him is beyond the pale.
I sincerely hope the summer break and preseason has him back in working order as a player.
His KPIs we're just as high in the champions league
Do you know these videos in which Americans are stood in front of a global map, asked a few simple geographical questions and feck up completely? All you football's coming home folks give me the same vibes.
Yeah until Dortmund played a good team. The CL is no measure of anything except playing 2 shite teams and 1 good team twice before being knocked out by an actual good team in the 2nd round.
Tell that to your league that's dominated by one team for the last 25 years, no one wants to play in (except for at Bayern), and no one wants to watch.
- Status