Sancho has not been made scapegoat and instead needs to repay Ten Hag for his support

September 1, 2022. Jadon Sancho scores the only goal for Manchester United in the club’s first away win under Erik ten Hag. Afterwards, Sancho shakes hands with journalists beneath Leicester’s main stand and is polite as he explains why he feels more freedom under his new boss on the field.

“More information, a clearer plan on what to do, especially in some areas of the pitch. Definitely,” he says of Ten Hag’s methods. “The style of play in training is what we’re working on. Some of that you see, some of it is the intelligence of our players, creating and knowing each other well.”

September 3, 2023. Sancho, 23, doesn’t figure in Ten Hag’s squad as United lose again at Arsenal. Asked why not after the game, his manager says: “Jadon, on his performances in training we did not select him.”

Sancho responds on social media and he’s not happy and suggests he has been made a scapegoat and has been “for a long time which isn’t fair!”.

It’s a shame this is public and not dealt with internally but the manager chose for it to be. The outcome was that it briefly made headlines before the next negative Manchester United story came along – in this case two police forces investigating allegations of domestic violence by Antony, which the player strongly denies.

Ten Hag could have easily said he was omitted for personal reasons, but the manager wanted to make the point public. Sancho and Ten Hag may both feel that they are right but there’ll likely be only one winner and it won’t be Sancho.

The Londoner is also being disingenuous since Ten Hag, according to many sources within Old Trafford, has looked after Sancho. The manager was proactive in building a relationship with his player. He was friendly, positive, engaging and helpful, as