What do we do about Sancho? Now and longer term

Sparky Rhiwabon

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Came here for £73m and on big wages to 2026
Has barely had a good game for us in that time, just glimpses here and there
He's had long enough to “adjust to the league” so that excuse won’t wash anymore (also, see Antony)
He didn't even play well in our “best performance in years” against Spurs - we won despite him - and was dreadful yet again yesterday
Worse than anything else - he just doesn’t look arsed in the slightest.

So, what do we do this season?
And what do we do longer term? Do we, for example, write off the majority of the fee and offload him in January or the summer?
 
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Joao Felix. Rafael Leao

That’s what I think of Sancho. He’s too Soft.
 
No one would pay remotely close to his wages. Can only stick with him and hope he improves.
 
He’s still only 22 so I wouldn’t write him off yet, but he is worryingly bereft of the attributes you need to succeed at the top level in the PL right now. Needs to massively increase his fitness and intensity levels for sure.
 
He’s technically very good which I think saves him. Mentality and physicality needs to change though. Just look at the difference to him and Antony in that department.

Too young to write off and I think he’ll benefit with a season under Ten Hag.
 
He doesn’t seem to play well with Shaw. He’ll get there, the ability on both wings to keep the ball under pressure and pen defences in their own box has been very important for us. We may think he plays too safe but Ten Hag has said he prefers creating overloads to dribbling past defenders so it might be that he isn’t confident in mashing the two as of yet
 
He deserves dropping definitely but I wouldn't give up on him long term just yet. He definitely has talent, maybe it's a mindset thing. He also does look slightly overweight to me.
 
Include him in a bid for Bellingham? I mean he killed it for Dortmund so that could maybe drop the price to a feasible amount. I suspect his issue moving on will be his wages at some point.
 
Mickeza said:
Erik will sort him out. As will a striker you can link play off.
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Exactly my thoughts, I’m not worried about him. He’s been underperforming no doubt but he will sort himself out with some help. Just like Casemiro has.
 
Honestly I can't even tell what the problem is with him. Can't be arsed? Low confidence? Only looked good in a poor League? I'm genuinely not sure which of these it is.
 
He was absolute dog shit yesterday, I was surprised it wasn't mentioned once in commentary.

Woeful performance, and not for the first time this year.
 
Rashford is a big part of the problem with our attack right now. He's just not a very good CF. We look far better with Martial in the side and that improves our attacking players. Rashford also is much better on the left too.

The big issue with Sancho is he doesn't seem to have any chemistry with Shaw. Which is a big problem.
 
He's frustrating me. I was a big fan and I still believe he can do well, but why won't he take the handbrake off?

So many times he's in a position where he's dribbling into the box with just one defender facing up to him and he needs to do something decisive, shift it one side or the other and get a shot off. But instead he just waits....and passes it backwards.

Must be a confidence thing, surely? He's capable of so much more than he's showing.
 
He lacks the intensity needed but he also isn't compatible with Bruno and whoever we play as a striker unless it's Martial.
 
I'd love a pacy winger with a wand of a left foot, someone like Killy Gonzales. Do those kind of wingers exist anymore?
 
RedSky said:
Rashford is a big part of the problem with our attack right now. He's just not a very good CF. We look far better with Martial in the side and that improves our attacking players. Rashford also is much better on the left too.

The big issue with Sancho is he doesn't seem to have any chemistry with Shaw. Which is a big problem.
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I kind of think the same but his constant going back or not taking players on is really benefitting Shaw. He’s constantly getting the ball and is able to surge forward. It’s just backward to what we expect.
 
Now? He'll be on the bench with Rashford and Martial starting at LW and ST, when all are fit..

Long term? He'll rotate with Antony and Rashford and his form is bound to improve. If it doesn't, he'll just be the bench option for the wings because again, there is too much talent and potential to pass up on when you have so many other issues to address IMO. He'll have his time to get it together and show what he's shown previously.

Eventually if he doesn't improve, yeah we'll just buy someone, but that's a way away.
 
I think people are way too eager to completely give up on players, especially young ones — you see it with Sancho and Amad now, you saw it with Dalot (someone who never even showed the potential that those two did) earlier.

Sancho has been largely underwhelming during his time here even though he's had a good spell last season and scored a couple of important goals in this one. Yet his biggest problem seems to be his mentality, not his technical deficiency — the lack of aggression, willingness to run at defenders and general intensity. We finally have a brilliant manager in place — and we've only had him for what, 4 months of proper training? Can't you guys wait a little bit? And don't give me the Borussia argument — he wasn't playing in a well-oiled machine that was Klopp's Dortmund and he did perform outstandingly there, often despite the run of the game.

We don't need to make a decision now — we're not going to sell him this winter anyway. And I wouldn't say that he's actively hurting this club at the moment like, say, Cristiano does — the worst case scenario, he's left on the bench or subbed off. If we won't see any improvement — and something tells me that we will, then ten Hag will let the management know.
 
harms said:
I think people are way too eager to completely give up on players, especially young ones — you see it with Sancho and Amad now, you saw it with Dalot (someone who never even showed the potential that those two did) earlier.

Sancho has been largely underwhelming during his time here even though he's had a good spell last season and scored a couple of important goals in this one. Yet his biggest problem seems to be his mentality, not his technical deficiency — the lack of aggression, willingness to run at defenders and general intensity. We finally have a brilliant manager in place — and we've only had him for what, 4 months of proper training? Can't you guys wait a little bit? And don't give me the Borussia argument — he wasn't playing in a well-oiled machine that was Klopp's Dortmund and he did perform outstandingly there, often despite the run of the game.

We don't need to make a decision now — we're not going to sell him this winter anyway. And I wouldn't say that he's actively hurting this club at the moment like, say, Cristiano does — the worst case scenario, he's left on the bench or subbed off. If we won't see any improvement — and something tells me that we will, then ten Hag will let the management know.
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Good post and I totally agree.
 
What is the fascination on here with selling players? We’ve barely got enough of the feckers as it is. Weirdos.
 
I’m not sure what the issue is, he doesn’t offer anything. No pace, no creativity, no goal threat. But it’s not as if he isn’t capable, he’s shown it at Dortmund. Seems too passive now
 
Anyway, Sancho will be fine. He’s a good player, but criticism is warranted as he’s not doing enough at the moment.

He’s 22 with a huge amount of ability, so I expect that Ten Hag will stick with him and hopefully help him become a better player.

Sancho’s issues are between the ears. He overthinks it. He’d do well to pull the trigger more often, or fire across the goal. Let’s see.
 
ROFLUTION said:
Okay, that can be said about any player really. How do we use him correctly then? He plays his preferred position, no?
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Not really: his biggest strength is our biggest weakness which is combination football and intricate, short-pass chaining football. The players are not on the same wavelength when it comes to chaining and some simply don’t have the confidence or technical ability to even attempt it, which leads to them shying away from Sancho’s biggest asset and leaving him on the periphery of play far more than he has ever experienced as a player at any level of football he’s played.

In turn, he loses confidence and is forced to play in a way that is unfamiliar to him whilst isolated and not sure of his next action. Our misuse of him has been incredulous; like we had no idea what we were buying or thought we’d just throw out everything that has made him the player who was so highly regarded.

If we’re patient, things will click and his talent can be realised here.
 
I’ve been critical of him but he’s actually been pretty good creatively which is primarily what he’s known for, should have had a coupe of assists versus Spurs and I’m sure there are others. I’m hopeful if we continue playing the way we have recently and having a lot more possession and control we’ll start to see him shine.
 
TheReligion said:
He’s technically very good which I think saves him. Mentality and physicality needs to change though. Just look at the difference to him and Antony in that department.

Too young to write off and I think he’ll benefit with a season under Ten Hag.
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Yeah him and Antony are actually quite similar technically but Antony just has a far better intensity, press and overall aggression to his game than Sancho which is what gives me a bit of hope.

Still, I said before that Sancho was coming from the academy we’d all be done with him by now after the last year, it’s his price tag and Dortmund reputation saving him right now.
 
Massive Spanner said:
Yeah him and Antony are actually quite similar technically but Antony just has a far better intensity, press and overall aggression to his game than Sancho which is what gives me a bit of hope.

Still, I said before that Sancho was coming from the academy we’d all be done with him by now after the last year, it’s his price tag and Dortmund reputation saving him right now.
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I think Sancho has shown enough in patches to see his quality.

Obviously it’s a mentality issue and I’m confident that Ten Hag and his staff can help him with this.
 
Von Mistelroum said:
Honestly I can't even tell what the problem is with him. Can't be arsed? Low confidence? Only looked good in a poor League? I'm genuinely not sure which of these it is.
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Too much money and he's already lost his hunger? If his reportable wages of 350k p/w are true he's going to be earning a staggering £90m in his time with us in wages alone never mind his endorsements and sponsors. Way too much too soon in my humble opinion.

Martial was a similar case. We just don't learn.
 
Yes I have been also very frustrated with him at time, especially with his lack of effort and aggression but I think he upped it a bit lately only to lose confidence when on the ball now.

We are talking about a 22 years old who had about the same number of decent games this year as Rashford, with the only exception that Rashford started performing now and Sancho was good at the start of the season.

We also shouldn't really take into account anything pre Ten Hag, the team was blatantly disjointed and very individualistic. If anything can help Jadon it's the team structure and I think Ten Hag will have it slowly installed by the end of this season. We should support the player.

Maybe he can be benched and maybe Elanga should get a chance but I would rather play him into form which might take a while. Also there will be plenty of games this year, so we can certainly rotate all of the attacking players..
 
It’ll come. Trust me. I don’t care about your league tax, this guy was doing double digit goal and assists at 19. Those types of seasons in Europe’s top 5 are typically limited to the Messi/Neymar/Hazard type forwards. That talent doesn’t just evaporate
 
He lacks aggression and power. He is a calm finisher, that much I'd say. Not sure how we fit him in but right now you would have to say it's not looking good for him longer term.
 
harms said:
I think people are way too eager to completely give up on players, especially young ones — you see it with Sancho and Amad now, you saw it with Dalot (someone who never even showed the potential that those two did) earlier.

Sancho has been largely underwhelming during his time here even though he's had a good spell last season and scored a couple of important goals in this one. Yet his biggest problem seems to be his mentality, not his technical deficiency — the lack of aggression, willingness to run at defenders and general intensity. We finally have a brilliant manager in place — and we've only had him for what, 4 months of proper training? Can't you guys wait a little bit? And don't give me the Borussia argument — he wasn't playing in a well-oiled machine that was Klopp's Dortmund and he did perform outstandingly there, often despite the run of the game.

We don't need to make a decision now — we're not going to sell him this winter anyway. And I wouldn't say that he's actively hurting this club at the moment like, say, Cristiano does — the worst case scenario, he's left on the bench or subbed off. If we won't see any improvement — and something tells me that we will, then ten Hag will let the management know.
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Great post, totally agree.
 
DWelbz19 said:
It’ll come. Trust me. I don’t care about your league tax, this guy was doing double digit goal and assists at 19. Those types of seasons in Europe’s top 5 are typically limited to the Messi/Neymar/Hazard type forwards. That talent doesn’t just evaporate
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Just lacks confidence it seems tbh, at Dortmund he'd get the ball and try and drive at people, or try and beat them with some great skill, or at least shift the ball to make a dangerous pass.

Now it seems he gets the ball, and is just scared of doing anything like that... Just passes it back.

Dortmund curse strikes again though...
 
Fortitude said:
If you want a proper answer: actually learn how to use him.

Very simple.
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You should email or text Erik. One of the best managers in the world could really use this wisdom from a random poster on a fan forum
 
Von Mistelroum said:
Honestly I can't even tell what the problem is with him. Can't be arsed? Low confidence? Only looked good in a poor League? I'm genuinely not sure which of these it is.
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Looks like he can’t be arsed. When he makes a mistake he doesn’t look disappointed in himself, let alone frustrated or angry, contrast that with Ronaldo this season. In fact, surely Ronaldo couldn’t do any worse in that position, it’s not as if Sancho is quick and at least Ronaldo would try.
 
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