Sancho criticised for Man Utd display: 'This is not FIFA!'

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 24 Sept 2021 14:01 BST
• 3 min read

Jadon Sancho has received criticism for his recent performance for Manchester United against League Cup, with former player Paul Ince telling him to stop treating performances like a game of FIFA.

The England international finally joined Man Utd this summer after a year-long transfer saga involving Borussia Dortmund, with the Red Devils eventually paying £73 million for his services.

So far, he has struggled to make an initial impression, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer putting him in and out of the starting XI.

Sancho has started four games and has zero goals and zero assists.

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His latest performance came against West Ham in the League Cup - a fixture that saw Man Utd eliminated from the competition after losing 1-0.

Sancho, along with the likes of Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial, was criticised for his performance in that game.

"I get that Sancho is still learning, he’s still young. But this is not a FIFA game, it’s not all about dribbling and dribbling and trying to beat two, three, four players or little flicks and that," Ince explained to The United Stand.

"Yeah, it’s nice when they come off but the likes of Sancho and Lingard, all these flicks, just play proper football.

"Honestly, it winds me up! If you watch players like [Ryan] Giggs, they get it and they pass, one-twos and get one-on-one… we just want to keep running with the ball, trying little flicks, little backheels.

"That’s what I saw with Martial, I saw it at times with Lingard and with Sancho and that’s where they need to learn that it’s not all about dribbling. Sometimes you can pass your way through players and get yourself in the box."

Martial criticism

Ince had further scathing words for Martial, saying that the Frenchman did not look like he wanted to be involved in the Cup game against the Hammers.

"How many people are ahead of Martial now? Was he going to go in the transfer window? Ole said no and he’s still part of his plans," he continued.

"I just looked at Martial’s body language and I was thinking, 'Does he actually want to be out there on a Wednesday night?', and some players do that. When they’re not involved in the first team on a Saturday, they think: 'Why am I playing in the Carabao Cup?!'

"You sense that body language with Martial. He didn’t want to be out there."