[Eddy_JukeZ]

Will he ever be a false 9 player?

He has passing and through balls, dribbling ability and some decent shooting ability.

I wish to see him like a false 9 but one that can drift to both channels and stay central due to how versatile he can be.

then play 2 inverted forwards off of him.

If Anthony is signed, it could be worth a punt.

But sometimes players of his ilk are just better drifting inwards from wide areas, so who knows. Hazard had all the attributes to be great centrally as a false 9 or #10 and he was always much better out wide.

 

[stefan92]

Will he ever be a false 9 player?

He has passing and through balls, dribbling ability and some decent shooting ability.

I wish to see him like a false 9 but one that can drift to both channels and stay central due to how versatile he can be.

then play 2 inverted forwards off of him.

I doubt it, to me it feels like he generally prefers having players around him, which includes in front of him. Playing as a 10 would be more natural for him than as a (false) 9.

 

[Tiki-Taka]

I doubt it, to me it feels like he generally prefers having players around him, which includes in front of him. Playing as a 10 would be more natural for him than as a (false) 9.

Yeah I agree, he needs to be more central, shame we don’t have enough wingers and too many 10s

 

[Olecurls99]

If he just had some burst or just a bit of pace he could be great. But what good is it to have the quick feet and skills to beat a man, or to keep the ball under pressure when up against the touchline, if you can't get away from them? He has to cut back so often because he just doesn't have the pace!

I think it might be down to the fact that when he looks up he sees Rashford on his own up top so he doesn't see the point in rushing to the byline.
He also gets doubled up on a lot so the full back can protect against the dash down the line and the other player applies the pressure.
He still manages to keep the ball a lot even under that pressure.

 

[Bebestation]

I think it might be down to the fact that when he looks up he sees Rashford on his own up top so he doesn't see the point in rushing to the byline.
He also gets doubled up on a lot so the full back can protect against the dash down the line and the other player applies the pressure.
He still manages to keep the ball a lot even under that pressure.

This is rubbish in my opinion.

He slows down the attack by asking the opponent to come and get him - realizes he then can’t take them on and then passes back to one of his team mates which stops our attacks.

If Sancho was reliant on such a forward to play one twos and play him in - then Sancho is just as reliant on the free spaces that are available on counter attacks as our other players are.

 

[Olecurls99]

Some of the instances that are frustrating to watch, which will go down as Sancho not being influential enough:

Sancho carries the ball, and nobody decides to make the run in between the 2 sets of defenders. Instead they all run towards the same area, which provide no passing option, so of course Sancho decides to stop the ball and pass back. Rashford makes no run and instead jogs towards the same area Elanga is at.

A counter attack where Bruno has the easy option in Sancho at the start.

Instead he chooses to pass to Sancho at the absolute worst moment, which of course ends up in nothing. Also had Elanga to his right if he was dead cert in that specific moment of the counter attack. Of course, because these moments end up in nothing, any potential for the attackers to look dangerous is killed off and they get criticized for not having many moments of looking threatening.

Shocking by Bruno. He had Sancho on early. By the time he tries to play Sancho he has Rashford through on goal between the CBs. His 3rd option was to hold it longer and slip in Elanga. He gave it away

I don't know which is worse between this and the Ronaldo refusal to play his teammate through.

 

[Olecurls99]

This is rubbish in my opinion.

He slows down the attack by asking the opponent to come and get him - realizes he then can’t take them on and then passes back to one of his team mates which stops our attacks.

If Sancho was reliant on such a forward to play one twos and play him in - then Sancho is just as reliant on the free spaces that are available on counter attacks as our other players are.

I don't know about asking the opponent to come and get him. The opponent is gonna come whether he asks or not. The opponent also has help. And the opponent is very quick himself.

Keeping the ball was good play under the circumstances. Sancho knows when to pick his battles. He's a very clever player imo.

 

[tomaldinho1]

So, if he fails under ETH, its on him or ETH?

Let’s see how good ETH is. If lots of other players are doing well/improving and Sancho isn’t it’s probably more on him, if everyone is struggling there’s probably something wrong with the setup.

 

[Fortitude]

United fans have been used to years of individualist football. Rashford at his peak was running past players and onto through balls to score. Greenwood was pulling worldies out of the bag to save us. A lot of us don't seem to be able to understand a winger that is technical and needs to work with other players to function. He won't beat 3 guys for pace and bang it in the top corner but he will play 3-4 one touch passes to cut a team open and then finish it calmly. The sort of goals that good teams score as a team.

Bless you.

 

[RepardReece]

Some of the instances that are frustrating to watch, which will go down as Sancho not being influential enough:

Sancho carries the ball, and nobody decides to make the run in between the 2 sets of defenders. Instead they all run towards the same area, which provide no passing option, so of course Sancho decides to stop the ball and pass back. Rashford makes no run and instead jogs towards the same area Elanga is at.

A counter attack where Bruno has the easy option in Sancho at the start.

Instead he chooses to pass to Sancho at the absolute worst moment, which of course ends up in nothing. Also had Elanga to his right if he was dead cert in that specific moment of the counter attack. Of course, because these moments end up in nothing, any potential for the attackers to look dangerous is killed off and they get criticized for not having many moments of looking threatening.

Most people are pointing out the Bruno situation here, but the first scenario really shows why he's underperforming in the assist department. Haaland would be making that run, Rashford/Elanga failed to do just that and there are so many more instances where this has occurred over the last year.

 

[Parma Dewol]

We’ve been terribly one sided for too long, with neither Martial nor Rashford truly belonging to either wing.

Wonder if Antony could be key to Sancho’s fortunes. Antony on the right, Sancho on the left, will give us so many options on the flanks, and potentially free Martial and Rashford to play their preferred roles up front.

 

[edcunited1878]

Most people are pointing out the Bruno situation here, but the first scenario really shows why he's underperforming in the assist department. Haaland would be making that run, Rashford/Elanga failed to do just that and there are so many more instances where this has occurred over the last year.

It goes back to Rashford, who makes runs and broadcasters always mention this, but he doesn't make the correct runs enough. He did for the Bruno goal, as did Elanga, but it's not done enough. Get across your marker and run into the space down the channel. Then Marcus is 1 v 1, with Elanga taking a run towards goal with Bruno behind or Sancho continuing his supporting run after pass down the channel to Marcus.

When United scored their goal, it's the perfect example of some of the strengths Sancho has, but is dependent on his teammates movement.

He positions himself as the fulcrum as Elanga drives forward, but also knows and sees the run by Dalot and the space he is going into. With the run made by Marcus and Elanga, that draws the CBs towards goal and the cut back for Dalot.

 

[DWelbz19]

United fans have been used to years of individualist football. Rashford at his peak was running past players and onto through balls to score. Greenwood was pulling worldies out of the bag to save us. A lot of us don't seem to be able to understand a winger that is technical and needs to work with other players to function. He won't beat 3 guys for pace and bang it in the top corner but he will play 3-4 one touch passes to cut a team open and then finish it calmly. The sort of goals that good teams score as a team.

Thankfully, the gaffer does. Give it time.

 

[2cents]

Thinking a lot about how we can get the best out of him, and I'm not convinced the left wing role is where it'll happen, not with our current CF options anyway. Have a feeling unless he can find a more central role - not something we've seen tried - he might be a casualty of Antony's arrival.

 

[Borys]

Took the goal very well, but I thought he was rather poor. He still lacks intensity if you ask me.

 

[Idxomer]

Tidy on the ball again and nice goal but his fitness is rubbish, needs some inhalers.

 

[The United]

He scored a goal but was hardly involved apart from that, which has been typical for him.

I mean, of course I would expect a lot from him as he was claimed to be a generational talent, yet he is not even the best player in England's squad playing in those positions.

I think he will be tricky for ETH in the long term unless we start playing Pep's ball soon.

 

[Trequarista10]

Yeah, he could do with hitting the gym a bit..

 

[el3mel]

That was good finish for the goal. Invisible for the majority of the game as usual.

I'll say it again, his overall style of play is really boring. The quality moments are good but he's not really that exciting of a player.

 

[El Jefe]

Criminal how early he runs out of gas but his composure in front of goal is so valuable as everyone else seems to feck up their chances.

He was a notorious slow starter at Dortmund so hopefully his stamina improves as the season goes on.

 

[Rozay]

Well taken goal, but just too low intensity at the moment.

 

[Alemar]

Scored our only goal today, took his chance calmly which is very nice. Doesn’t have stamina for full 90min yet.

 

[saivet]

Agreed with the sentiment, good goal but not really involved tonight. That said, I don't think he, nor any of the forwards had too much of the ball. I don't think we kept the ball well as a team which meant our forwards didn't see much of the ball.

 

[Olecurls99]

Criminal how early he runs out of gas but his composure in front of goal is so valuable as everyone else seems to feck up their chances.

He was a notorious slow starter at Dortmund so hopefully his stamina improves as the season goes on.

Yeah his composure is welcome around the box. Needs to kick on. We need him.

He'll be better when we're better.

 

[MadDogg]

Definitely needs to work on his stamina. He was good for the first 35-40 minutes, playing nice passes and combining well with everyone around him. After that he was obviously struggling with his fitness.

 

[Bobski]

Others have mentioned it but his conditioning is poor, looked as if he was blowing after 35 mins tonight. That is not good enough.

 

[DarkXaero]

His fitness is terrible, really needs to have better conditioning to be more effective in these matches. Every match, it seems to be the same story, and he's the first one to run out of gas.

 

[kundalini]

Composed finish for his goal. Had another shot blocked after good play from Rashford.

Lost possession cheaply like the rest of the team; in his case after a really nice bit of skill to bring down a long pass then gave it away.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Why does he always play shit in 2nd half of games? Concerning.

 

[MrEleson]

He has such poor stamina. Can’t maintain the same intensity for the length of a game.

Reminds of me of Ozil around a decade ago when he never finished games because he was so unfit.

Neverthless, another important goal from him. Intruiged to see how he combines with Antony as his opposite wing partner.

 

[Irwin99]

Quality goal and some very good touches. Hoping he'll get fitter more and more as the season progresses.

 

[cletus7]

Others have mentioned it but his conditioning is poor, looked as if he was blowing after 35 mins tonight. That is not good enough.

In this game, I thought the drop off in his game resulted from scoring his goal. It seemed he was there thinking ‘job done’ and losing focus. Sloppiness issues set in before energy issues.

 

[BusbyMalone]

 

[Doracle]

Only saw the first half today but his place must be under serious threat from Antony. Good that he got a goal but his involvement compared to Rashford or even Elanga was negligible. He got played into great positions and just ended up doing nothing. It’s harsh as he’s not a left winger but he really has to step up.

 

[Abraxas]

Needs to get much fitter. Let's be honest, a Manchester United footballer at 70 million quid that can't run for 90 mins, it is really slack. Inexcusable really, the one thing you should be is in prime condition.

Again his play was quite good at times which makes it all the more frustrating that the physical side is not following the technical.

 

[Santoryo]

Only saw the first half today but his place must be under serious threat from Antony. Good that he got a goal but his involvement compared to Rashford or even Elanga was negligible. He got played into great positions and just ended up doing nothing. It’s harsh as he’s not a left winger but he really has to step up.

Elanga is the definition of a ghost and Rashford isn't much better as a CF. Unlike those 2, even if he has a quiet game, he at least can keep possession which to me is very important. Can't have everyone in attack who instantly lose the ball. Take out Martial from that front 3 and Sancho is the only one left who takes care of the ball.

Hopefully with Antony introduction, we'll have more players comfortable with the ball at their feet.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Needs to work on his stamina.

Between him Rashford and Elanga though he's clearly the calmest in front of goal.

 

[Bwuk]

If he can up his fitness and intensity we will be cooking with him and Antony out wide

 

[Reiver]

Starting to look very good, and consistent. But right now he only seems fit enough for 45 minutes.

 

[Red the Bear]

His cardio is shocking but I'm starting to like what I'm seeing with him, ten hag is utilizing him well and he has finally upped his productivity, maybe we'll get the Sancho we paid for after all.