Jadon Sancho vs Erik Ten Hag: What does it say about Manchester United?

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Manchester United suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Arsenal on Sunday (September 3). And within hours of their Gunners wound, they received another damaging blow, this time from one of their own.

Jadon Sancho, the Manchester United player, released a statement on social media regarding his thoughts about an earlier comment made by Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag.

The Manchester United manager Ten Hag was asked about Jadon Sancho's absence from the squad against Arsenal, and the Dutch manager took to the offense and clarified that Sancho's lack of level in training ground was the reason behind his expulsion.

"Jadon, on his performances in training we did not select him," said United boss Ten Hag after the game against Arsenal.

"You have to reach a level every day at Manchester United and we can make choices in the front line. So for this game he was not selected," he added.

And within an hour of that, Sancho shared a social media post X and hit back at his manager in brutal fashion.

Jadon Sancho Statement

"Please don't believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue, I have conducted myself in training very well this week," he wrote on social media.

"I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won't go into, I've been a scapegoat for a long time which isn't fair!

"I respect all decisions that are made by the coaching staff, I play with fantastic players and (am) grateful to do so which I know every week is a challenge. I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what!"

Controversy has fuelled since the explosive revelations by Sancho, which clearly depicts the standoff between the two personnel. But what exactly this tell about Man United and their squad?

Jadon Sancho vs Erik Ten Hag - What does it say about Man United?

Jadon Sancho's words are quite a malice for Man United. The player termed the word 'scapegoat' there, which clearly indicates he feels he has been unfairly criticised for some time now.

Also, the United boss threw Sancho under the bus by directly criticising the player, and perhaps he should have been a bit more protective of his player.

Sancho also said he doesn't want to go into other matters, and what does he mean by that? Has the player been facing lack of trust from his manager for completely unrelated reasons? Has the player been treated badly by the Man United boss? Questions are being asked by the footballing fraternity, and a large chunk of them are United fans.

We have already seen the notorious clip of Cristiano Ronaldo criticising Ten Hag where he openly said he doesn't respect the United boss, and now within nine months of that, another big-money United signing has some serious issues going on behind the scenes.

The exigency for Sancho to put out a social media post just after team's loss can be questioned as well. Because in professional football, these things are parts and parcel of life, but probably the player was too agitated for a long time and decided to speak for himself on Sunday.

Considering both sides, it is quite certain that the harmony among the United players and their manager is a delicate thing, and it has the potential to be crushed at any time, just as their hopes of winning against Arsenal shattered after Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus put the dagger at the stoppage time at Emirates.

For a club as big as Man United, these kinds of player mutinies and open criticism of the manager is a non-negotiable thing, and we may see disciplinary judgement being imposed on Sancho. But why it is happening so often? Are the players always at fault or perhaps the manager has the share of blame as well? They need to find that out soon.