Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has expressed his happiness with how Jadon Sancho is steadily progressing as he is eased back into the team. The manager was happy with the England international's performance on Sunday afternoon as the 22-year-old grabbed Man United's third goal in an amazing team play with Bruno Fernandes; however, the manager is more pleased with the winger's general contributions to the team than his goal.
Jadon Sancho showed how much it meant to him to score in front of the Old Trafford crowd as he pointed towards them while celebrating his goal against Leicester on Thursday afternoon.
The former Borussia Dortmund winger came on as a substitute for Alejandro Gernacho and slotted into the number 10 role in the middle of the park. The player who returned to the team this February after being away for three months played with great confidence and also grabbed a goal for himself; he was unfortunate not to score a brace and registered an assist, but Wout Weghorst wasn't clinical.
Manchester United broke into attacking mode after Leicester City's attacking push was cut out. Sancho moved with pace, having Anthony Elanga and Bruno Fernandes on both flanks. He laid a pass to the Portuguese, who made no mistake returning it with the England international in goalscoring position. The 22-year-old just tapped the ball a bit into Leicester City's net before wheeling away in celebration.
Erik Ten Hag during his press conference stated how happy he is with the England star, who is getting back his confidence, but he stressed that it was his defensive contributions that make him a joy to watch.
"He's going in the right direction, but I think he doesn’t achieve his limits in this moment, and there is a lot of space for improvement with him," Erik Ten Hag stated.
"Now already he is on a high level, and I’m sure when he keeps especially the joy of football, then it will really improve his performance, and today you see when he’s coming on in the midfield position, [he makes] great runs and great passes. He's in a good position. "But what also gives me a lot of joy is his defense transition," he explained.
The manager also addressed the debate concerning the title race; the Red Devils have found themselves in the mix of a title challenge after their resurgence over the course of the season.
They are currently trailing second-place Manchester City by 3 points, while Arsenal are just five points ahead of them as league leaders. Erik Ten Hag dismissed the thoughts of the Red Devils mounting a title challenge, but he is rather focused on Thursday night's clash with Barcelona.
"We don’t think about that." But first of all, we think the next game and Thursday are going to be big nights; it has to be for us, but we have to work for that.
"We have to fight the opponent with our fans and make Old Trafford really a fortress, and that is what we are thinking about." "So the game plan has to be right, and then we have to follow the rules and principles of our game," he explained.
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