The Athletic: "Man Utd coaches trying Jadon Sancho as RWB"

Adnan

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The title of the thread is: 'The Athletic: Man Utd coaches trying Sancho as RWB'.

I then posted a reply about someone commenting on the Athletic being a reputable source. To which I disagreed.

So I'm not sure where you're coming from with this, I think your slightly off piste with your words here?

The article is pure crap, we know he hasn't been fully fit, he's getting up to speed with the league, the whole RWB positional swap is merely fodder for the sensationalist hunters, something to rile up the supporters, something the headline of the article does, 'Sancho is collateral damage', even that's sensationalist and pure crap in itself.

So please, next time you comment, make sure it's relevant to my point, cheers.
@JPRouve was supporting your view I thought. If you think he was attacking you then I suggest you back and read the post again which I thought supported your view.
 

Thiagoal

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It’s all about passion and who wants it more. If Jadon puts the front foot he can make it happen. Let’s hope for a positive reaction, coaching stuff is brilliant.
The irony of this is that all the stats linking to passion (tackles, interceptions, pressing etc) United are bottom of the league or near enough! :lol:
 

Sandikan

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I think ultimately if we put the climate around the manager and the club aside, it's not that weird.

Once you accept that 3-5-2 is worth persisting with (personally I'm not sure on this but it's not ridiculous) then it is abundantly clear Sancho is struggling for a role.

Ultimately Sancho is one football player, albeit a very expensive and hopefully talented one, so we don't necessarily build a formation around his best role at the expense of the team. But we possibly do want to find a way to utilise him. It's not that stupid, particularly in a training session - we don't even know if it will see the light of day.
This is it.
If we do go to this 3 at the back often, which the jury has to be out on anyway, where does Sancho get near the team?
Right wing back against lower teams where we'll have the ball most In theory could work.
 
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I know Ole likes to try and imitate SAF, but someone tell that fool that Valencia was 30 when SAF started playing him as RB and United were under austerity so SAF couldn’t buy £70m players.
 

Champ

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That's a fair point that I wasn't aware of. Certainly I think much of what writers do on Twitter is clickbait-y by nature given the format and incentives and you are right to call it out as questionable behaviour.

I'll confess now that it's now my turn to be confused and ask a genuine question - why is The Athletic responsible for other outlets honing in on one small part of a longform article? Even if they had left the bit about RWB training out the tabloids would find some snippet to take out of context.
This is a quote the CEO of the Athletic: When we expand into a new market, we gain new subscribers by hiring writers who have a following already and by word of mouth from existing subscribers. Then like any direct-to-consumer brand, we are acquiring subscribers through Google, Facebook and Twitter.

i would imagine that keeping advertising costs down would not yield as many subs as they need, so they utilise other media outlets by drip feeding them information in advance, allowing them to run with certain stories citing the Athletic as a source.

I could be wrong in this, but I'd imagine that explains why nearly every media outlet carried this story at literally the same time it was released on the Athletic.
 

Foxbatt

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I know Ole likes to try and imitate SAF, but someone tell that fool that Valencia was 30 when SAF started playing him as RB and United were under austerity so SAF couldn’t buy £70m players.
Wasn't Rafael the RB under SAF when he was not injured?
 

Josep Dowling

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The Athletic seems to get a high reputation but a lot of their headlines are click bait bollocks to me. Any Manchester United story sells. Liverpool lost at the weekend but still the focus is on United.
 

Josep Dowling

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I think ultimately if we put the climate around the manager and the club aside, it's not that weird.

Once you accept that 3-5-2 is worth persisting with (personally I'm not sure on this but it's not ridiculous) then it is abundantly clear Sancho is struggling for a role.

Ultimately Sancho is one football player, albeit a very expensive and hopefully talented one, so we don't necessarily build a formation around his best role at the expense of the team. But we possibly do want to find a way to utilise him. It's not that stupid, particularly in a training session - we don't even know if it will see the light of day.
Surely this tells you all you need to know? We were signing players based on a 4-4-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation. Form goes out the window and suddenly we are reverting to a back 5 so not concede goals. This hasn’t worked because we have still conceded 4 goals in 3 games. The manager has merely reverted to the new formation to save his skin, whilst it limits came time for our most expensive signing this summer. It’s simply isn’t good enough by the manager and yet another reason why he should be sacked.
 

NotoriousISSY

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Imagine chasing a 20 goal and 20 assist winger, having no idea how to use him and then shoehorning him into a system which only serves to cover the weaknesses of our CAPTAIN.

I really hope this is absolute nonsense.
 
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Imagine chasing a 20 goal and 20 assist winger, having no idea how to use him and then shoehorning him into a system which only serves to cover the weaknesses of our CAPTAIN.

I really hope this is absolute nonsense.
I think it’s actually a failed PR stunt to try and convince us of Ole and his staff coaching/tactical acumen and ability to turn things round
 

Oranges038

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What? What kind of training do you think United are doing? Do you think it's a matter of spending 30 minutes a week to train in a different position? I actually suspect that this might be uncomfortably close to the truth which is awfully damning in and of itself...

My point is that it is almost the opposite of clickbait. His headline makes no mention of training at RWB. If the intent was clickbait then he certainly wouldn't have completely buried the lede.
Even if he has been training at wing back, then it's only the last 2 or 3 weeks it's been seriously tried. He's been there 4 months already, it has very little to do with why he's struggled to adapt up to this point. It's just lumped in there to give headline fodder to outside sources to create some noise about the article, which really has feck all else in it to get people interested.

It's all pure clickbait, the headline from the atheltic and the snippets used in the headlines from the rags.
 
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Bestietom

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Your right. Valencia initially started playing RB to cover for Rafael, not sure if he became permanent RB under SAF in that final season or under Moyes.
Fergie shifted him back there after coming back from bad broken leg injury. He could barely use that leg again and had to cross from endline or pass back.
 

Zehner

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Because it is humiliating for the GOAT at 34 (and for the game of football at large), to be asked to lie down on the ground for a set piece. That just shows Pochettino being a moron.

It is not humiliating at all for Sancho, 21, just a prospect, to be drilled in training in any form his manager demands.
It is. And if this is actually true and Sancho will be converted into a RWB, it is a legit reason to force his way out, IMO. He's ruining his career if that's the way Solskjaer wants to use him. This is similar to Henry being played as a wing back.
 

Flanders Devil

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Maybe this is why Sancho took the #25 shirt. In honour of Valencia.
As a proper solution this is ridiculous. As an ‘all out attack’ plan at the end of a game when chasing a result, it could work.
 

justsomebloke

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In fairness, the article makes a better case for it than you'd think off the top of your head. At least it points to some game situations where Sancho has shown adeptness in defensive situations.

It also gives a more nuanced picture of his struggles so far. Above all that his trouble with injuries and illness early in the season have amounted to more than is commonly realised, and also that he's been finding the pace of the PL game challenging.
 

devilish

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Because it is humiliating for the GOAT at 34 (and for the game of football at large), to be asked to lie down on the ground for a set piece. That just shows Pochettino being a moron.

It is not humiliating at all for Sancho, 21, just a prospect, to be drilled in training in any form his manager demands.
Sancho is not a prospect. He's a 70m signing whose been trashing the Bundesliga week in week out as an attacking winger. Why would anyone sign him just to change his role few weeks after? Why is he so determined to ruin so many young players careers (Sancho, Henderson, VDB, Diallo etc)? Does the manager know what he's doing? Is ruining young players career the United way?
 
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Zehner

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If this was conte doing this everyone would hail him as a genius
I mean, it's not like Sancho hasn't played in a 343. It's just that nobody in their right mind would play him as the wing back in this system. People still don't get what kind of player Sancho is. That's fine, not a fan's job but shocking from a professional manager of one of if not the biggest clubs in the world.
 

Amir

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Sancho is not a prospect. He's a 70m signing whose been trashing the Bundesliga week in week out as an attacking winger. Why would anyone sign him just to change his role few weeks after? Does the manager know what he's doing?
The manager is clearly making it up as he goes along.
 

sullydnl

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If this was conte doing this everyone would hail him as a genius
No, they wouldn't. They'd ask why he was turning our marquee attacking signing into a RWB and what his plan for the long term was because that would clearly be an unsustainable use of the players in our squad. They'd also rightly ask why he thinks Sancho of all the players in our squad is the one most suited to being a RWB.

However, even if we imagine a world where Conte did do that, at least he'd be able to say he was trying to make the best out of a mess he inherited mid-season. In Solskjaer's case, he's spent three years of patient building to get to this mess.
 

devilish

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The manager is clearly making it up as he goes along.
I've never seen a United manager whose had shown to be so clearly out of depth then Ole. He's got no tactics, no coaching, he's a coward and this inexperience is ruining players careers. If United had a half decent manager then the likes of Sancho and VDB would be smashing it at first team level, we would have made a decision regarding Henderson/DDG & Pogba, Jesse would probably be at West Ham and Mata/Grant would have left the club. That's money spared that could be reinvested elsewhere.
 

devilish

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If this was conte doing this everyone would hail him as a genius
Conte would probably give Sancho a go in his own role in a 4-3-3 system. Its not his favorite formation but he would try and take the best out of this team. If it fails then he'll probably ask the club to sell him some players and buy him some wingbacks instead. That's fair enough since this is not his team. We gave some reject from Cardiff 415m to spend to build a new side from scratch. Surely we can spare some money for an actual winner.
 

Amir

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I've never seen a United manager whose had shown to be so clearly out of depth then Ole. He's got no tactics, no coaching, he's a coward and this inexperience is ruining players careers. If United had a half decent manager then the likes of Sancho and VDB would be smashing it at first team level, we would have made a decision regarding Henderson/DDG & Pogba, Jesse would probably be at West Ham and Mata/Grant would have left the club. That's money spared that could be reinvested elsewhere.
Yep. Eternal survival mode.
 

Orton

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I mean, it's not like Sancho hasn't played in a 343. It's just that nobody in their right mind would play him as the wing back in this system. People still don't get what kind of player Sancho is. That's fine, not a fan's job but shocking from a professional manager of one of if not the biggest clubs in the world.
It’s actually shocking. Can’t believe we signed him tbh. Really has been a complete shambles the whole thing.
 

devilish

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Yep. Eternal survival mode.
A person in survival mode wouldn't go for a big squad because that would cause rifts between the squad and the manager with the latter losing the dressing room. The football industry is a small world and while the likes of VDB looks isolated, a player like Jesse or Sancho are not. They have mates with the national team (Maguire, Greenwood, Rashy and co) or on a personal level (Jesse is close mates with Pogba) whom in turn will have their own set of mates. A small sparkle can lead to a revolution. Its easier for a manager like Ole to manage a small squad especially since he doesn't rotate much

Id say that the reason why he kept a big squad is ironically the same reason why he doesn't rotate much ie cowardness. Ole relies heavily on individual brilliance to cover for his lack of tactics/coaching. Unfortunately players who are able to produce that on a regular basis are rare even among top teams. Unless a kid is a generational talent such as Greenwood or Ronaldo are then an 18 year old will need to be lead rather then lead himself. Thus that option is for him out of the question. Thus he keeps running his first team to the ground and when injury strike he wants a solid replacement up and running to take the injured player place. Ole keeps talking about United DNA and youths but he won't be giving the likes of Hannibal, Diallo and Pellistri a share of first team football. He can't afford that.
 

altodevil

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Why would any other young upcoming player choose to join us over other big clubs? Take one look at the Sancho situation and laugh. Embarrassing.
 

Orton

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It was but then there was the last-minute purchase of Ronaldo and the tactics are now tailored to him. Ole surely had a plan for Sancho but it's thrown out of the window.
Stick him in the team cause he got lots of goals and assists innit? No tactics necessary. Punt it to Sancho and watch him shine… Then he realises that it doesn’t work like that with Sancho. Saying Ole had a plan is pretty generous, considering how far we’ve fallen off a cliff under him. No team out there spends over 100m on 2 players and has no fecking clue how to use them. We would’ve been better signing someone like Adama if he wanted a player who would just run and take people on. The way Sancho has been deployed would tell you that nobody at this club has a clue how to get him more involved and I’m not surprised.
 

Dante

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This is probably the same kind of bullshit as the stories about Ole switching to a 4-3-3 this season.

Ignore it until you see it on the pitch. I bet all that happened was that Sancho was given a bit of defensive training to help with his pressing and tracking back. Then the leaker put 2 + 2 together and got 5.
 

JPRouve

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Dont think Valencia played as RB under SAF (maybe emergency fill up like Fletcher and Carrick).
That's why I listed 3 players before him. Valencia played a handful of games at RB under SAF but it was because the other options weren't available, the 5-5 against West Brom being an example.
 

justsomebloke

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I've never seen a United manager whose had shown to be so clearly out of depth then Ole. He's got no tactics, no coaching, he's a coward and this inexperience is ruining players careers. If United had a half decent manager then the likes of Sancho and VDB would be smashing it at first team level, we would have made a decision regarding Henderson/DDG & Pogba, Jesse would probably be at West Ham and Mata/Grant would have left the club. That's money spared that could be reinvested elsewhere.
Okay, so this is like pissing into the ocean in the current atmosphere, but I 'd just like to say that a sensible person who thought twice before writing might reflect that a manager who has no tactics, no coaching, is a coward and is ruining his players careers maybe isn't super likely to take a team to consecutive third- and second-place finishes in the PL. Because I think that probably requires a certain minimum of competence, and involves doing something right. So, maybe not lose heads completely here?
 

devilish

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Okay, so this is like pissing into the ocean in the current atmosphere, but I 'd just like to say that a sensible person who thought twice before writing might reflect that a manager who has no tactics, no coaching, is a coward and is ruining his players careers maybe isn't super likely to take a team to consecutive third- and second-place finishes in the PL. Because I think that probably requires a certain minimum of competence, and involves doing something right. So, maybe not lose heads completely here?
He got other attributes such as an enormous amount of luck, very deep pockets (415m) and to his credit his players do love him which means they will do anything for him. Name me one manager who had spent that amount of money and after 3 years he kept his job despite winning nothing.