How Sancho effects United's team balance

By Kieren Hassan, published on 05/08/21

The right side of Manchester United's team has been lacking for some years, with the last established winger that played there consistently for a season being Antonio Valencia who was slowly transitioned into a right back in the 2011/2012 season. After Angel Di Maria’s signing in 2014 after his MOTM performance in the UCL final for Madrid it had seemed the position was slowly going to be sorted by a top quality player before his home got robbed, things turned sour between him & Louis Van Gaal & eventually he got the move that he seemingly wanted in 2014 to Paris (except PSG couldn’t quite afford him due to FFP). Mason Greenwood has started to emerge as a top player, playing out of position on the right but is actually a central forward & is slowly being transitioned into that role by Solskjaer & with the guidance of Edison Cavani.

Mason Greenwood has done well the last season gaining himself 5 goals & 1 assist from 20 starts on the right side which considering he isn’t a winger is a good achievement in helping Manchester United gain second place over the current European Champions Chelsea & only behind Pep Guardiola’s noisy neighbours Manchester City. The problem here is that although Mason is a formidable talent & striker, he isn’t meant to be on the right wing & as such is switching between his normal position at striker & the role in which he’s needed to fulfill at right wing for the balance/strength of the team. Due to not being a winger Mason finds himself cutting inside a lot which will mean a lot of the right wing is to then be covered by Wan-Bissaka in attacking & defending with Mason doing a similar positioning as Juan Mata or Jesse Lingard when played on the right (although not as damaging for the structure of the formation as Greenwood has become more comfortable on the wing & has the pace/trickery to beat defenders).

Jadon Sancho’s arrival at Manchester United can only mean one thing, Mason will be moving more to striker & play less minutes on the right (as well as Amad Diallo coming into that role) & Jadon taking the starting 11 spot on the right to compliment the formation & structure of Solskjaer’s tactics & keep it’s shape. Sancho bagged himself 6 goals & 5 assists in 14 starts on the right side which shows not only is he a goal threat, but he will also help the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford & Edison Cavani in creating goal opportunities for his teammates.

To compare the two would not be completely fair given Sancho is a winger & Mason is not, but for the structure of the team & balance, here is the heat maps to show you roughly how each player moves in game;

When looking at the two heatmaps next to each other you can see Greenwood likes to start cutting in just before & as he gets towards the 18 yard line, which although he is deadly when in on goal & the tactic seems to work for him, it shows a player that is good, but not quite at the top level in said role (nore would you expect someone to be when out of position/role). When you look at Sancho’s (we’re only focusing on the right half of the pitch), you can see that although he also can cut in, it’s a less blatent heat map for cutting in & he also can take the ball to the byline as well as cutting inside & moving into a more central position, which can help in leaving the defenders unknowing & questioning your next move more so than Mason’s who shows a distinct cutting in movement. Although Sancho will still be able to cut inside (like Greenwood) he will also be able to keep his shape & to help Wan-Bissaka behind him in their partnership in attacking & defending by keeping shape (which helps by having such good balance/players all over the pitch from Fernandes in a central role to Shaw & Rashford on the left having a similar impact overpowering the oppositions fullbacks.

Now onto their partner, who is one of the league's best right backs himself, Wan-Bissaka. Wan-Bissaka was widely regarded as a very defensive fullback with little to no attacking output in his first season at United, which was partially correct. The former Crystal Palace player was actually a winger in his youth academy days and he ended up transitioning into a full-back because of his defensive ability. This helped to be a crucial part of Solskjaer's defensive wall in rebuilding Manchester United to the solid team we have all grown up to know and love. In his second season Wan-Bissaka has started to be able to go forward a lot more & gain more confidence in himself & his abilities, bagging himself 2 goals & 4 assists in his 34 appearances in the league at right back. This may seem up for question, but Manchester United have been heavily reliant on their left wing & Bruno Fernandes creating due to the unbalanced right side of the pitch which has hindered the progress of Wan-Bissaka offensively. Here is Wan-Bissaka’s heatmap;

From this heatmap you can see that Wan-Bissaka stay on the side & likes to hug the touchline to spread the opposition wide as well as isolate their wingers/fullbacks into a one on one scenario, with his confidence & ability in defending he will always back himself after pocketing players on the level of Neymar, Mbappe & Sterling. Since the defensive side is very much Wan-Bissaka’s game, Sancho would only need to track back to help in numbers & keep a balanced formation against oncoming attacks it then leads into the attack. Wan-Bissaka is a fast paced, 6’0 fullback that can compete & duel against the best, that overlapping a Jadon Sancho that can draw players slightly inwards or take them wide to the byline will be a huge worry for the opposition come match day. Sancho showing that he has the option to take defenders wide & keep a more balanced formation or take them inside & let his partner Wan-Bissaka overlap for the cross means that the partnership that may well be upon us soon could slowly develop into a frightening attack that only balances the team more so with the likes of Marcus Rashford & Luke Shaw being a formidable partnership on the opposite flank.

Overall, the choice to put Mason Greenwood into the team in that right wing role has been fantastic by Solskjaer given his development & seemingly outgrowing his youth role by the time his chance came about, but it was always going to be temporary whilst United slowly developed him & let him build himself into one of the best strikers the world will see, that’s where the upgrade to Sancho comes in. Not because Sancho will be/is a better player than Greenwood, but because getting a player on Sancho’s level, experience & knowledge on the right side (With Rashford on the left & Greenwood centrally), could well help to build Manchester United’s attacking line up into one of the best attacks the footballing world will see in the next 10-15 years, never mind that the partnership of Wan-Bissaka & Sancho could also develop into one of the best wing partnerships due to their ceilings & allowing the other to simply do their job by offering even just a little bit of assistance. This transfer is certainly one that I would be monitoring (as we have for the last two years) to see just how much it can help balance United’s team & attacks.