Erik ten Hag bites back at Jadon Sancho: I need hungry players at Manchester United
Erik ten Hag has aimed a thinly veiled dig at Jadon Sancho by insisting he wants players who put Manchester United before their own egos.
Sancho, who has said he feels a “scapegoat” at United, launched his own jibe at Ten Hag this week when he said he felt at “home” back at Dortmund and was pictured kissing the club’s badge after agreeing a loan deal until the end of the season.
Manchester United’s £73 million man fell out with the manager after accusing him of lying back in September, when Ten Hag said Sancho had not been performing well enough in training to be selected.
Sancho could have found a route back into the reckoning at United had he apologised and in response to a question about the importance of discipline, Ten Hag said his hardline stance is about dealing with players unwilling to swallow their pride.
“It’s not about discipline,” he said. “It’s about normal behaviour. That is what you can expect from a top professional.
“If you want to perform [as a club] you need hungry players. You need players with personalities and who are hungry to fight for the badge and fight for this club. And they need to do this in a team.
“We have to understand and acknowledge we have to do it together. We have to be on the same page, in the same boat. We have to perform together.”
The Sancho rift followed a row with Cristiano Ronaldo, whose second spell at the club ended in acrimony last season after he criticised the manager and the club’s hierarchy in a television interview.
The Sancho and Ronaldo episodes have been part of a turbulent 18 months in charge for Ten Hag, who stripped Harry Maguire of the captaincy and gave the armband to Bruno Fernandes. Ten Hag also said £85 million flop Antony’s form has been impacted by domestic assault allegations – which the player denies – while the Mason Greenwood saga also caused tension at the club.
All those off-pitch issues have coincided with Ten Hag presiding over United’s worst first first half to a Premier League season – they have lost nine of their opening 20 League games and 14 in all competitions.
He insists the main reason for a series of inconsistent and underwhelming displays is down to a glut of long-term injuries to key players Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro, Luke Shaw, Christian Eriksen, Mason Mount and Maguire. Kobbie Mainoo, Victor Lindelof and Tyrell Malacia have also been out.
Ten Hag pointed out that homegrown talents Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho – both still teenagers – need time to develop, as does £72 million striker Rasmus Hojlund, 20, who has managed only one league goal so far.
But with many of the injured players already back or on their way to a return to action, he remains optimistic United will improve in the second half of the season, starting on Sunday at Old Trafford against Tottenham in front Sir Jim Ratcliffe for the first time.
“I am managing a project here,” Ten Hag said. “I know when you get setbacks like the injuries we had, no team can handle so many injuries and you will drop off a level.
“What you want is a team that is stable so it doesn’t matter if you have to swap one or two players from the previous game but not so many changes as we were forced to do in the last year.
“Also we made some choices in the summer for the future. We introduced young talent but that talent needs time. Now you see the progress of Garnacho and Mainoo and, for instance, Hojlund. He needs time but we know we don’t have time.
“We know we have to perform and we want to do it at short notice, so as quick as possible.”
The problems have not diminished the former Ajax manager’s hunger or enthusiasm for building on what was a promising first season, when United finished third and reached both domestic cup finals, winning the Carabao Cup.
He said: “I knew this could happen. You need time to get the progress in. I see it as rational that this is how the process could go.
“Sometimes you need some moments to step up, to get the belief in. At Arsenal [in September] we should have won the game and we didn’t and in the away game at Spurs [in August], we should have taken the lead.
“But we didn’t get those points early in the season and from there, you get some negativity and some injuries and you get a pattern where a lot is going against you. But you have to deal with setbacks — that belongs to the process.
“So, if you ask me the question ‘is it difficult for you?’ No, it’s not difficult for me, because I could expect from the start of this season, when this happened, a process can go negative. As a manager, you have to stay positive and get the process in the right direction again.
“In the meantime, you have to be pragmatic, get as many points as possible and wait until the players are fit. And you work on your team, work on individuals to go to a higher level, set conditions for the team performing better and the results will rise again.”
United will be boosted by the return of Martinez, Casemiro, Eriksen, Shaw, Antony and Amad Diallo against Spurs. “We have more choices now to put out a starting XI and create a bench that is stronger,” Ten Hag added.
He knows Ratcliffe will be watching with interest.
