Manchester United and Erik ten Hag are not suffering from weekend blues this time after a while with their 2-1 vs Brentford and the matchweek is turning out quite well overall too.
Their next league opponents, West Ham United had a huge blow handed to them which makes United’s job slightly easier on paper.
From teams ahead of them, Newcastle, Fulham, and Arsenal lost even though Mikel Arteta’s men are probably not catchable this season.
To top it all off, Jadon Sancho’s latest performance at Chelsea had many Man Utd fans in a state of deja vu as he got subbed off at half-time in their loss to Liverpool.
Sancho had started well at Chelsea, if only in terms of raw stats, so this came as a surprise to Chelsea fans. Not to United fans though…
Jadon Sancho vs Liverpool
It is worth remembering that Sancho is still a Manchester United player on loan at Chelsea after his deadline-day move happened with a mandatory buy clause.
Before the game vs Liverpool, Sancho had three assists in four games for the Blues and the feeling was that Sancho was another talent freed from the malaise at Old Trafford.
However, United fans kept insisting that his general level play wasn’t very good and a regression to the mean was inevitable.
That regression happened vs Liverpool as he stuck out in a ponderous Chelsea side which he personified with his style of play.
Infamously defensively-prone Trent Alexander-Arnold had him locked up as Sancho was deployed on his preferred left wing.
He attempted three dribbles, couldn’t win any and also lost all three of his ground duels in a performance which consisted of him mainly jockeying with the ball before passing it backward.
Sancho did have five touches in the opposition’s box but they came as a result of well-constructed moves from which he never threatened.
As a result, Pedro Neto came on for him as he became the sole half-time change for the Blues. To add to his misery, Chelsea scored three minutes into the second half after his withdrawal.
Man Utd fans on Jadon Sancho
It is an open secret that there is no love lost between Sancho and United fans due to the terms and the narrative surrounding his departure from the club.
Erik ten Hag is often called out for being public with the player but he gave him ample time to get his head right before taking that nuclear option.
Most importantly, three Man Utd managers tried and failed to get a tune out of the player which pointed to a much deeper issue with the player himself.
After his half-time sub, they made the clear point that he has never been suited to high-intensity, physical games which is where his style of play gets found out.
One fan wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter): “Sancho felt like the wrong player for this game. Slowing it down in moments where a Pedro Neto or Mudryk would increase the intensity.”
Another provided a perspective on his “breakout” at Chelsea that United were hammered with, saying: “Sancho still has 0 goals for Chelsea & hasn’t scored in 7 months.”
A third spoke about the deja vu experience for Utd fans: “I see the Sancho conversations have commenced. It was only a matter of time. An entire half of jockey dribbling with a 0% success rate is all too familiar.”
Another fan echoed similar sentiments: “In all truth, all his performances are similar to what he did for us, not in a bad way just that’s how he plays but Chelsea fans thought they were getting something different.”
A fifth summed it up by apathy more than anything: “His performances are the same as they were for us, not bad just decent nothing more.”
Finally, another fan wrapped it up nicely by saying: “Sancho could be s*** for Chelsea or absolutely mint, it makes no difference to the fact that 3 successive United managers couldn’t get a tune out of him.”
This remains the reality and while many fans can still give back what they received when Sancho was bagging assists, the player’s reality is the same as it was before and probably will remain the same.
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