The whole situation got out of hand. ETH could have and should have spoke privately to Sancho behind closed doors. Go in as rough as you want behind closed doors. I don’t think Fergie would have ever called out a player. We could have at least tried to get sancho into some sort of form leading up to January and then by all means sell him when he’ll have more teams interested. Who’s gonna be interested in a player that teams now think doesn’t put in effort in training and someone that’s not played for months. You never heard Dortmund managers come out and say he doesn’t work hard in training… he got started week in week out for Dortmund. It could be a case of Sancho not trying in training as he feels it’s pointless because ETH is another Ole who plays people based on relationships other than form. Rashfords been out of form all season but when as he ever been dropped? Antony hasn’t exactly lit up the league either but he’ll start most games when fit. So players are gonna be wondering it doesn’t matter how well I do in training, I still ain’t getting picked. This isn’t me defending Sancho btw. Just a theory…
This isn’t me arguing against, but a few points:
1. Yes! Why have Ten Hag never spoken to Sancho behind closed doors? That is so stupid! You would think he did, wouldn’t you, at some point? That was silly. Or … are you sure he didn’t, btw?
2. I agree, Ferguson would never have singled out a player publically, never. At least never unless he just did anyway. Like with Beckham, Ronaldo, Johnny Evans, Rooney, Smalling, Nani etc.
3. Spot on again! We should try to get Sancho into some sort of form. Personally, I would send him on a specialized fitness prgram in The Netherlands or something. And offer him to come in early for preseason. And ask him to try to keep up with Dan Gore in training. Why haven’t we tried that?
4. I have never heard a Dortmund coach say Sancho didn’t work hard in training, you are so right about that. I read that his first coach demoted him to the youth team, yes, it’s true, and I read Favre saying to the press ‘he is talented, yes, but talent is 10% and hard work is 90%. He has a lot of work to do in traing to be more consistent’. I saw him pulled him off after 36 mins against Bayern once. But I never heard it.
5. I feel this is where you really hit the nail on the head. Sancho might not be trying in training, because he feels it’s pointless. That’s it, isn’t it. He feels it’s pointless. He thinks his scintillating match performances should see him played ahead of Rashford and Antony, because he has been clearly better than them or wot? I mean, would you bother with training hard if you weren’t selected to play? Ok, so 90% of professional footballers would. But Sancho isn’t a 90% footballer, is he? He’s a 10% footballer. Pure talent. Hard work is for the 90%.