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Erik ten Hag has revealed why Jadon Sancho was peculiarly missing from Manchester United’s matchday squad against Fulham on Friday night.
United kicked off their Premier League season with a 1-0 victory over the Cottagers at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils clinched all three points courtesy of a late goal from new signing Joshua Zirkzee.
There were plenty of positives to take from the game including a very encouraging performance from the players, the team creating a lot of chances and three stellar debuts from Zirkzee, Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt.
The only thing that threatened to dampen the good mood was the reason for Sancho’s exclusion. The Englishman was not even on the bench for United.
During his presser, Ten Hag was asked about this and clarified that Sancho missed the game partly due to an ear infection.
The United boss insisted that the forward could have played but ultimately he made the decision to leave him out.
Ten Hag said, “First of all, we need squad depth. This season is the survival of the fittest but I can only put 20 players in the squad, I have to make choices.”
“And Jadon in the week had an ear infection and was not 100% fit for this. He could play but if you can make choices, I made the choice that we preferred other players on the bench.”
“That can change and will definitely change in the season where we have to rotate because we can’t play every game with the same. You see today how important subs are, we need the right bench and the right balance.”
“Sometimes it is frustrating for the player but it’s about the team, it’s about the club, there will be more players in this position but we expect them to fight for the club. We have so many games to play, everyone will have their minutes and then they have to prove it.”
Ten Hag told Sky Sports that United need to make their chances count and he reiterated this point once again in his presser.
The 54-year-old remarked, “One space that we have to fill is to kill in the box, we saw it in the friendlies, we saw it last week against City, we create enough chances not to wait for a late winner.”
“So we could have earlier been in the winning position. We have to be more composed and we have to kill and execute in front of the goal.”
“It’s the start of the season, players have to come into full speed, we have enough players in the squad with scoring abilities and the most important thing is we created chances.”
On Zirkzee’s goal, Ten Hag explained, “It was very important to get the first goal as a striker. For him, it is very pleasing because strikers have to score. That is the first ability you have to show when you come as a striker to a new club.”
The United boss told reporters that he expects more from the team as there is a foundation to build on. He divulged that there is always room for improvement but overall, the performance and execution of the game plan was very good.
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