Why Solskjaer's change in tactics is even more bad news for Sancho at Man Utd
Stefan Bienkowski
- 2 Nov 2021 15:08 CDT
- 5 min read
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer surprised fans and critics alike on Tuesday evening when he revealed his starting XI.
However, rather than drop Cristiano Ronaldo or play Harry Maguire up front, the Norwegian manager stuck with a 3-5-2 formation that had been hastily deployed a few days earlier against Tottenham Hotspur.
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Although the new system worked well against Spurs, with Man Utd winning the game comfortably by three goals to nil, few would have expected Solskjaer to stick with the same formation against Atalanta in the Champions League.
Yet the person that was perhaps most puzzled and troubled by the change in tactics was none other than Jadon Sancho: Man Utd’s £76.5 million signing from the summer who is completely incompatible with Solskjaer’s new plans.
Can Sancho work in a 3-5-2?
The whole point of the 3-5-2 formation is to provide defensive cover in the form of three central defenders whilst also relying on wing-backs to get forward and provide the necessary depth in attack.
In other words, Solskjaer’s new formation simply negates the need for wingers at all in Man Utd’s team and means Sancho would not only have to overcome rival wide players to get some game time at Old Trafford but would also have to redevelop his role as a player entirely.
While the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial can play as No.10s or more traditional strikers, Sancho is unquestionably a winger in every sense of the word and simply wouldn’t be of much use in a 3-5-2 formation unless he was asked to play as a wing-back. A role that certainly wouldn’t play to the former Borussia Dortmund star’s strengths.
Whether this spells the end for Sancho’s time at Man Utd before it has even started remains to be seen, but things continue to go from bad to worse for the England international since joining the club in the summer.
