Sancho needs our support

Greck said:
He's here so we have to back him to overcome, achieve, even lead us to a title, but yeah I'd be lying if it never crossed my mind people who rabidly hyped this thing for two years weren't just the full of shite fifa ultimate teamers. It's just unfortunate he can't even establish himself without Greenwood in the picture.

I do think it isn't coincidence his form fell off a cliff after Ronaldo returned to the starting lineup. Sancho like Antony need team fluidity to really show their quality. They aren't going to outrun or take players on for fun. Let him come back and let's see how he looks.
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I'm all for giving Sancho the time he needs to get over whatever his is going through - 100%. This is coming from someone who has struggled with anxiety and a bit of depression, so I know exactly how much this can impact you on a daily basis if you're in that state of mind. Just because you look physically fit and healthy on the outside, mentally you can be drained and the smallest of tasks can become burdensome and a struggle. I'm not saying this is what Sancho is suffering from, but just an example of a silent killer that those on the outside can't see, and something that can take months, if ever, to get over completely.

But just to go to the bold part I highlighted - I can't buy this as an excuse from a professional footballer because they would have had to deal with competition their whole careers to get where they are. If they buckled under pressure, they wouldn't have made it to this level. Just because they lose their spot in the starting line up or two shouldn't be the cause of what has happened to Sancho in my opinion
 
rpitroda said:
Some honestly brain dead logic in this thread. Only support Sancho “on the pitch” is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve read in some time. The quality of your players off the pitch impacts those on the field but even ignoring that, why would you not want to support him? Criticise him sure. Believe he’s done and should be sold, sure. But to no support and hope he comes good makes no sense. All of us should want Sancho to improve and perform, regardless of whether you think he will or not. ETH is the one who has to decide when that hope becomes sufficiently small that it’s time to move him on.
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I agree with the essence of what you're saying, but how exactly are people supposed to support him off the pitch? Send him nice messages on social media? Think positive thoughts?
 
Jippy said:
I agree with the essence of what you're saying, but how exactly are people supposed to support him off the pitch? Send him nice messages on social media? Think positive thoughts?
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You and I both know that’s not what I meant …

My overall point is that supporting players just when they’re on the pitch doesn’t make sense because we have a squad of players most of whom aren’t actually on the pitch but contribute significantly to our overall ability to have success. Not to mention, quality of life off the pitch impacts performances of those on the pitch. That doesn’t mean we need to send flowers. It doesn’t even need to be “active” support. But deciding that you have written someone off who is being focussed on to improve is overall illogical because why would you not want someone to improve who could one day be a valuable member of our team?
 
rpitroda said:
You and I both know that’s not what I meant …

My overall point is that supporting players just when they’re on the pitch doesn’t make sense because we have a squad of players most of whom aren’t actually on the pitch but contribute significantly to our overall ability to have success. Not to mention, quality of life off the pitch impacts performances of those on the pitch. That doesn’t mean we need to send flowers. It doesn’t even need to be “active” support. But deciding that you have written someone off who is being focussed on to improve is overall illogical because why would you not want someone to improve who could one day be a valuable member of our team?
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Yeah I wasn't meaning to be obtuse. The comments about 'giving him time', 'showing support' and so on does all sound a bit glib, though well-meaning. ETH is giving him space and getting him the support he needs and ultimately deciding what happens to him as a United player.

Asking people to lay off him online is like fighting the tide- in the last 24 hours we've had posters going on about how 'rubbish' Haaland is, likening him to a 'pub player'. We had people writing off Casemiro after his first two games, Maguire is hated more than Ian Huntley and loads would bin Rashford in a flash. So many fans prefer the pile on to patience or even understanding that an improvement in a player they don't rate's form would at least likely make them easier to sell..
 
footballbite said:
There's literally a line in the BBC article you posted which says:

" Ten Hag describes Sancho as "not fit". "

:/
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It can be a bit of both. Maybe he is not mentally fit to play? So, fit in terms of his body, no injuries, in good shape etc. But if your head isn't where it needs to be, that doesn't really matter.
 
pascell said:
Doesn't sound like a fitness issue or that he was dropped, thank god some people posting in the other Sancho thread aren't managers.

Ten Hag is handling this brilliantly.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64180907
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For some reason, the BBC article doesn't include the whole quotes.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...ll-news/man-united-news-jadon-sancho-25906576
ETH said:
In this moment he is not fit enough, no. I said, physical. But physical is also the connection with mental. But I think he is now making good progress on the physical part and that will help him. I hope he can return quickly but I can't say a duration of how long it will be.
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He also sounds very frustrated that Sancho is not available right now.
 
The interviewer of the last 2 qs is/are bang out of order there. I'm actually please that he/she dug into the matter, but talk about an aggressive tone! :eek:

Just one more on Jadon there, while you can't say when he is due back, can you say whether you feel from what you've seen and heard so far, he's got the benefit of his time in Holland? Do you think that physically and mentally he is showing signs of improvement?
"You are saying the Netherlands but that process could also have been in England as well. But the good thing is, is that he is back in Carrington. So, he is making progress so he is ready for the next step."

How can a £75million forward at Manchester United, with all the facilities you have and all the experts, become unfit? How can that be allowed to happen?
"I think any top athletes, in football but also in any sports, sometimes it is good to go away from the place where you are at daily to get a new vibe, to get experience. People have a different approach and can give you the right push to get back on track."

If you had 20 Jadon Sanchos who were all unfit, you'd be in trouble. I'm wondering why or how he became unfit in the first place if the club's job, your job, is to keep these players tip top?
"Football players are not robots. No one is the same and for everyone you need a different approach and we thought, in co-operation with Jadon, it was the best choice."
 
I don't think he should be denigrated, but with the shit load of money he's being paid to do his job and access to multitude of professionals to fix whatever ails him, I'm sure he'll be fine without my "support".
 
Whatever the issues are, it looks like ETH has handled this the right way. It clearly not a purely physical problem nor is it mainly about attitude as some have suggested too. Regardless of what happens with Sancho in his career I think he'll probably be grateful to have a manager like ETH. Some managers would either make you play through whatever issues you're having, publicly embarrass him, telling the press your personal problems or just phase them out completely.
 
Glorio said:
The interviewer of the last 2 qs is/are bang out of order there. I'm actually please that he/she dug into the matter, but talk about an aggressive tone! :eek:

Just one more on Jadon there, while you can't say when he is due back, can you say whether you feel from what you've seen and heard so far, he's got the benefit of his time in Holland? Do you think that physically and mentally he is showing signs of improvement?
"You are saying the Netherlands but that process could also have been in England as well. But the good thing is, is that he is back in Carrington. So, he is making progress so he is ready for the next step."

How can a £75million forward at Manchester United, with all the facilities you have and all the experts, become unfit? How can that be allowed to happen?
"I think any top athletes, in football but also in any sports, sometimes it is good to go away from the place where you are at daily to get a new vibe, to get experience. People have a different approach and can give you the right push to get back on track."

If you had 20 Jadon Sanchos who were all unfit, you'd be in trouble. I'm wondering why or how he became unfit in the first place if the club's job, your job, is to keep these players tip top?
"Football players are not robots. No one is the same and for everyone you need a different approach and we thought, in co-operation with Jadon, it was the best choice."
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That's some aggressive questioning.
 
Glorio said:
The interviewer of the last 2 qs is/are bang out of order there. I'm actually please that he/she dug into the matter, but talk about an aggressive tone! :eek:

Just one more on Jadon there, while you can't say when he is due back, can you say whether you feel from what you've seen and heard so far, he's got the benefit of his time in Holland? Do you think that physically and mentally he is showing signs of improvement?
"You are saying the Netherlands but that process could also have been in England as well. But the good thing is, is that he is back in Carrington. So, he is making progress so he is ready for the next step."

How can a £75million forward at Manchester United, with all the facilities you have and all the experts, become unfit? How can that be allowed to happen?
"I think any top athletes, in football but also in any sports, sometimes it is good to go away from the place where you are at daily to get a new vibe, to get experience. People have a different approach and can give you the right push to get back on track."

If you had 20 Jadon Sanchos who were all unfit, you'd be in trouble. I'm wondering why or how he became unfit in the first place if the club's job, your job, is to keep these players tip top?
"Football players are not robots. No one is the same and for everyone you need a different approach and we thought, in co-operation with Jadon, it was the best choice."
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To be fair I think it's nice that they're actually asking direct meaningful questions, that we ourselves are asking. Too often they just ask meaningless stupid questions that give us no substance.

Clearly though there's enough hints it's been a mental issue (lack of confidence, a break down of some sort) that's made him get out of shape or not want/be able to train properly.

Maybe the rejection of the world cup squad set him off? hard to say.

Anyway, the main thing is they're getting on the right track.
 
Seveneric said:
I don't think he should be denigrated, but with the shit load of money he's being paid to do his job and access to multitude of professionals to fix whatever ails him, I'm sure he'll be fine without my "support".
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I guess it's less that he needs than fans' actual support and more that fans don't actively act like total cnuts. That should really just be baseline day-to-day behaviour for a human, but it can be surprisingly challenging for many.
 
Really think you might have finally got it right with EtH. Seems like a top bloke and coach.
 
There's a risk of reading too much into what EHT said to the interviewer and drawing unsupported conclusions. His English is good but his phrasing is Dutch (reminds me of LVG), so you can't always interpret him too literally. It's clear there's been an issue with Sancho's fitness and a suggestion that stems from a problem, let's say, with his state of mind. It looks as if ETH is prepared to back him to regain his form, although he naturally says it's frustrating. From what I've seen of Sancho I would guess that's the right approach, and I, for one, would support ETH and Sancho 100% to achieve that. He's too good a player to just discard.
 
Sounds like Sancho started to doubt himself and his abilities, leading to him not training to his best capabilities, leading to his fitness levels deteriorating.

Fantastic man management by ten Hag and also the club.
 
mav_9me said:
That's some aggressive questioning.
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The last question is just a cuntily worded version of the one above it, which is a legitimate question if you're telling people a player is unfit mid-season. As has been discussed endlessly, the explanations of Sancho's issues have been so open to interpretation people are confused and want clarity. I think ETH's answers are decent though and hopefully it's a positive that Sancho is back at Carrington.
 
My prediction: A couple of years down the road when Sancho wins the EPL with us, there’ll be a Netflix documentary revealing his challenges prior and how he has overcome them.
 
Adam-Utd said:
To be fair I think it's nice that they're actually asking direct meaningful questions, that we ourselves are asking. Too often they just ask meaningless stupid questions that give us no substance.

Clearly though there's enough hints it's been a mental issue (lack of confidence, a break down of some sort) that's made him get out of shape or not want/be able to train properly.

Maybe the rejection of the world cup squad set him off? hard to say.

Anyway, the main thing is they're getting on the right track.
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Yeah, the line of questioning could easily have led to being told to feck off (possibly deservedly) but I'm glad we're at least back to some journos probing for some information of interest rather than just asking 15 questions about fecking Ronaldo.
 
Jippy said:
Yeah I wasn't meaning to be obtuse. The comments about 'giving him time', 'showing support' and so on does all sound a bit glib, though well-meaning. ETH is giving him space and getting him the support he needs and ultimately deciding what happens to him as a United player.

Asking people to lay off him online is like fighting the tide- in the last 24 hours we've had posters going on about how 'rubbish' Haaland is, likening him to a 'pub player'. We had people writing off Casemiro after his first two games, Maguire is hated more than Ian Huntley and loads would bin Rashford in a flash. So many fans prefer the pile on to patience or even understanding that an improvement in a player they don't rate's form would at least likely make them easier to sell..
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I don’t disagree!
 
We need to be careful not to take the manager's words as the gospel. We've seen ETH relegating Maguire as 5th choice CB despite praising in the media in several occasions. In my opinion ETH is doing what the Italian say fare buon viso a cattivo giocho. His forward line is wafer thin, there's no money left to spend and he must therefore do his very best to motivate the squad from within so they could carry us to some form of success till the end of the season. However, if I was Sancho I wouldn't rest on my laurels. No one likes an 80m player who must go in 'individual' training' mid way through the season especially given the circumstances the team is in. With new owners coming in the scenario will change in a drastic way. ETH will, on one hand have a generous transfer budget to rely upon but on the other hand will be working with people who might have different preferences as a manager. The Dutch man will be under huge pressure to perform and will certainly not have the time to cuddle players mid way into the season again. These aggressive (and constant) questions won't help either. As a United manager, ETH will be under immense pressure. The last thing he needs is having to defend a player whose not available again and again especially if some of these journalists have the cheek to try and pin the blame on him.
 
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It’s an interesting topic so I get the coverage.

But it might just be a case of Sancho missing the WC squad so he felt a bit down…plus needing a bit of extra time to add some muscle/endurance to his body for the second half of the season.
 
devilish said:
We need to be careful not to take the manager's words as the gospel. We've seen ETH relegating Maguire as 5th choice CB despite praising in the media in several occasions. In my opinion ETH is doing what the Italian say fare buon viso a cattivo giocho. His forward line is wafer thin, there's no money left to spend and he must therefore do his very best to motivate the squad from within so they could carry us to some form of success till the end of the season. However, if I was Sancho I wouldn't rest on my laurels. No one likes an 80m player who must go in 'individual' training' mid way through the season especially given the circumstances the team is in. With new owners coming in the scenario will change in a drastic way. ETH will, on one hand have a generous transfer budget to rely upon but on the other hand will be working with people who might have different preferences as a manager. The Dutch man will be under huge pressure to perform and will certainly not have the time to cuddle players mid way into the season again. These aggressive (and constant) questions won't help either. As a United manager, ETH will be under immense pressure. The last thing he needs is having to defend a player whose not available again and again especially if some of these journalists have the cheek to try and pin the blame on him.
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Are you trying to say because he is worth £80m, he cannot have mental health issues?
 
devilish said:
What does that have to do with that post?
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" No one likes an 80m player who must go in 'individual' training' mid way through the season especially given the circumstances the team is in"

Ten Hag has clearly stated why he has to go on an individual problem because he was not in the right mental state. He deleted all social media, so it is clear there is something up with him.

Just because he is 80m, does not mean he is immune to things.
 
romufc said:
" No one likes an 80m player who must go in 'individual' training' mid way through the season especially given the circumstances the team is in"

Ten Hag has clearly stated why he has to go on an individual problem because he was not in the right mental state. He deleted all social media, so it is clear there is something up with him.

Just because he is 80m, does not mean he is immune to things.
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Do you think that clubs like to have an 80m player having to go to individual training mid way into the season? Can you see a player in such circumstances doing it again (lets say next season) and survive not being sold? I don't. With new owners coming in then the pressure to perform is set to reach ridiculous heights. No one spends 7B to settle for a 4th place and the occasional good run in the league cup. Everyone will be asked to perform and be at the top of their game, week in week out, no exceptions.

And tbh maybe that is what Sancho needs ie a team that would make him feel special while allowing him to express himself without too much pressure. There are players like that and some were exceptional players in their own right.
 
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devilish said:
Do you think that clubs like to have an 80m player having to go to individual training mid way into the season? Can you see a player in such circumstances doing it again (lets say next season) and survive not being sold? I don't.
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Regardless of the price of a player, anyone can go through a mental health issue. He also went into a training programme during the world cup break.

Its like saying if a 80m player gets injured once we should sell him because they'd need individual training in the middle of season to get fit.
 
romufc said:
Regardless of the price of a player, anyone can go through a mental health issue. He also went into a training programme during the world cup break.

Its like saying if a 80m player gets injured once we should sell him because they'd need individual training in the middle of season to get fit.
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If a player is injury prone then he's usually shown the door unless of course he's such a great talent that his occasional cameos makes it worth keeping him. This ain't different. Ultimately not every player is cut to play at the top and some of those players can be exceptional talent.
 
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