The issue with Sancho is that he excels when there's players around him and space to run in to. Here, he has neither of those because of the way we play and how teams set up against us with the deep back line, so he's either got to try beat the offside and hope a teammate finds him (which they never do), or he has to try beat his man and then another. Sancho had a good game last night, but we won't see the best out of him until this is addressed. He's probably the best player in the squad at receiving the ball in tight spaces, turning and facing up the defender but it doesn't appear that way because he's rarely got the movement around him so he'll either hold onto it too long and lose it or play a safe pass back. It's not a matter of his ability, it's a coaching issue.
I'm not going to pretend like I have the solution, I'm just the average every day United fan, but we all know what Einstein said about repeating the same thing and expecting a different outcome. Surely, if I, the average every day fan, can see it, the coaches can too, surely?
It's still early days for Sancho but he will be feeling the pressure and there's no doubt, he was meant to be the marquee signing this summer, so why aren't the coaches doing everything within their power to get the best out him? Why do they try the same things over and over and expect a different outcome? Why not try him in a central position where he'll at least be able to play to one of his strengths, and then have the wide players push inside so they're playing closer together where they can play off each other and have the fullbacks provide the width? He's played there before and done well. He's capable, great even, at playing a pass through the lines or using his team mate for a give and go. He'd have Ronaldo in front of him, movement from the inside wide players and the midfield behind him. On the wings, he usually only has his fullbacks to play off and a few yards of space to work with whilst being doubled up on and marked. Shaw is technical enough to link up to a degree to work those situations but it's still far too predictable and on the right, it's worse because he has AWB for support. I don't care who you are, you're gonna struggle if that's all you've got to work with against two banks of 4.
It would mean pushing Bruno deeper where he played for Sporting as a CM, yes, and it would also mean less output from him in terms of G/A, but what we'd get in return is an actual midfield and balance. He'd have to adapt his game slightly and have a lot more discipline and care with the ball, but easy work for a player of Bruno's many qualities. When we signed him, we all thought he was going to be one half of the solution to our midfield dilemma, let's be honest. It was only because he literally dragged us up to 2nd single-handedly playing where he wanted in his first half-season, that Ole had no other choice to leave him where he is now, playing in that non-position between the striker and midfield, not really a playmaker, nor a striker. It was a happy accident and it was effective at the time, when we had Martial as our main striker before we got sussed out. I don't think Ole ever envisaged him playing him so advanced because when we scouted him at Sporting, he played deeper. Back then was a dire time of need not want, but now we have options and times have changed. Playing him in CM, where he drops back when out of possession and chips in with defensive duties and the opposite when in possession. Stick one of McT or Fred alongside him and gain control of the midfield and build from there.
People are saying we aren't coached, we are, just not in a way that's conducive to the players we have, which is ultimately bad coaching. If you go back to when Ole and his team first arrived, we tried the short, intricate passing and triangles often but struggled with it because we didn't have the players. Now, ironically we have the players but are now in danger of becoming a long-ball team if last night was anything to go by. In an ideal world we'd have a CDM good enough to allow Bruno to play more advanced but for now, I don't think it would harm to try Bruno there if we've tried Pogba there to no avail, while bringing more balance to the team whilst also potentially finding a solution to get Sancho more involved. For games when the opposition will give us space, by all means, stick him on the wing and push Bruno further forward to play Fred and McT, but in games where there is none, it's insanity and quite frankly, terrible man-management to stick him out on the wing in isolation and expect him to make things happen.
