Jadon Sancho And The lost art of making mistakes

Mr no end product, 007, afraid to take on his man, all bark and no bite, the 72 million pound flop.



These are only a few of the “slander names” that have been used to describe Jadon Sancho, once one of the most promising young players in Europe. And like the last spark on a burnt piece of paper, it would seem like all that talent has simply just fizzled out. Or has it? One peculiar thing about "slander names" is the fact that they’re often always made in the most generic of terms with seemingly no other meaning other than as a way to stir some negative feelings toward the player. I wouldn’t put too much stock in them.



But these names aren’t always made as jokes either, as I found that several supporters actually think the club wasted a lot of money signing the Englishman. And Just as quickly as it came, the Sancho storm ended, and the people who sang his praises are more likely the same ones now advocating for his demise.



There’s a particular failure that comes with making mistakes. But it’s of the good kind because it’s the kind we tend to learn from, right? Well, not always. In fact, there is a whole psychological study about how humans don’t tend to learn from their past mistakes, and in a way, it has inspired this new dynamic between football fans and the relationships they form with their players. Even though they might not realise it, people are giving Sancho the Rashford treatment. And in spite of all they’ve witnessed with Rashford, Martial, and other players, they still refuse to tear down their walls of cognitive biases and adopt a more intuitive approach to situations like this.



The psychological reasoning behind Sancho’s treatment – and indeed that of many others, may be more clearly understood if Donna Alvermann’s findings on why we don’t learn much from our past mistakes are taken into consideration. Alvermann’s study discovered that students disregarded accurate information when it disagreed with their preexisting beliefs. The students regularly allowed their false knowledge of the past to take precedence over newly received accurate information. In other words, when faced with circumstances that appear to go against what it has determined to be normal, the brain simply refuses to accept it is mistaken.



Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Rashford was one of Manchester United’s top players. He undoubtedly scored the most goals during the Norwegian’s reign, and before Bruno Fernandes joined the team, United was forced to rely entirely on the Englishman for both creativity and scoring goals. Rashford could do no wrong in the eyes of the supporters, at least for the first two seasons with Solskjaer. And with 89 goal contributions in 135 appearances across all competitions, this was understandable.



A series of injuries and the team’s total capitulation, along with atrocious performances from basically every player on the squad, meant that people would have to pick a scapegoat, and Rashford was one of the players who would suffice for reasons beyond me.



He was racially abused, mocked, degraded, and people wanted him sold. But he managed to turn things around and re-establish himself as a key player for Erik Ten Hag. It’s the perks of never giving up on a young player with a solid track record. Ten Hag knows this, but most football fans don’t. So it’s happening all over again with Sancho.



“We signed him as we see a top forward for 10, 12, 15 years, and I’ve not changed my mind on that,” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said almost exactly one year ago and it’s incredible how much has changed in that time.



The euro 2020 final. A young Englishman was set to take a spot kick for England. At 21 years of age, this seemingly monumental task was thrust upon him; the fate of an entire nation - who have not won a single trophy for heavens knows how long - rests on his shoulders, and it was as heavy as a mountain of stone. Rashford had already missed his spot kick just minutes before, so the ball Sancho held in his hand, as he approached the 18-yard box, might as well have been made of marble.



The stadium gleamed. The stands were packed. The seats filled with thousands of people who had come to see history made. Half of them wanting him to score, the other half just begging for him to do the exact opposite. And all that seemed to add to the weight already unceremoniously crushing his proverbial shoulders.



Sancho must’ve been surprised by how quickly his heart had started to pound in his chest when he set the ball down to take the kick. He could see the fear on the faces of his teammates as they looked from him to the goal and back again, but that wasn’t what had made his heart pound so hard. It was the fear of the abuse, the disappointment of the fans, and the mental strain it would put on him if he missed the penalty kick. But he did miss it, and I think people underestimate what Sancho seemed to have lost that night - what the three other Manchester United players lost that night and how that shadow, cloaked in failure, followed them around for the rest of the season.



Sancho is now 22 years old, so it makes no sense to instantly discount his talent or capacity to compete at the highest level due to a difficult period that so many young footballers experience at some point in their careers.



A few weeks ago, Man United’s Amad Diallo had already been written off as a “flop.” His recent performances for Sunderland are now garnering praise from the exact same people who kept quoting his transfer fee when it’s time to bash the previous manager for wasting money on a player who supposedly isn’t fit to play in the Premier League. Many other young players, especially those from the academy, have not been spared from this often irrational onslaught.



Sancho is one of the few footballers in the world who is this intelligent at such a young age. He is generally more adept tactically than everyone else on the pitch, even when he’s playing poorly. His execution may occasionally be off, but his intent is always clear. Man United waited to get Sancho for more than two years for a specific reason—they didn’t want anyone else taking that right wing spot, so Solskjaer was willing to wait.



In just 99 appearances, at the age of 20, the Englishman Became the youngest player in Bundesliga history to record 50 assists. No player in League history accomplished that feat as quickly as he did. He also went on to shatter Matt Le Tissier’s 26-year-old record by finishing the 2019–2020 campaign with 17 assists and 16 goals. So yes, he does have the pedigree, and his past results resoundingly attest to that.



Some, however, contend that he hasn’t played well since joining United, and this myth has been used as “evidence” to “show” that he was a bad acquisition overall. But many people often fail to consider the context. After losing the Europa League final to Villarreal, Sancho joined a United team that had no cohesive mentality. The team disintegrated, and each player’s performance suffered for it. It was one of those times when the consequences of trying to find some success in a toxic environment were evident, and Sancho became one of the many casualties of this era. He joined a dressing room that was significantly different from the one that Solskjaer had created prior to signing Cristiano Ronaldo. A slew of expectations accompanied his transfer fee like they were one and the same, including new players and a new team identity. All following a European championship final defeat that people expressly blamed him for.



He played for three different managers with ostensibly distinct tactical philosophies during that season alone – which under any other set of circumstances would’ve been too much to adjust to. It’s his second season at Man United, and he has often struggled to have an impact on the team, but writing him off is a massive mistake. We’ve seen how players who lost all form came back with the proper guidance, under the right atmosphere, and within the right frame of mind. Anthony Martial is a good example, especially after his loan spell at Sevilla ended in complete failure.



Sancho will most likely bounce back, find his form, and develop into a formidable player for the team. I have little doubt about that. What I find worrying is the stigma surrounding underperforming players and how quickly and simply they can be written off, completely disregarding crucial facts that revolve around their age and their track record – without careful consideration of the contextual framework they happen to find themselves in at the moment.



For now, Alejandro Garnacho appears to be well-liked by the majority of the supporters, but how quickly might that change? A sailor knows to expect the winds to always change; he has no power over that. What he can do, however, is adjust his sails. And for Garnacho, you feel the winds of change coming, it might not be soon, but it will come. If they can come for Fernandes, Rashford, and Sancho, they will come for him.