Gareth Southgate has urged patience with Jadon Sancho as the England winger continues to find his feet at Manchester United.
Sancho moved to Old Trafford from Borussia Dortmund during a summer which also saw him racially abused after missing a penalty in England’s shootout loss to Italy in the final of Euro 2020.
The 21-year-old has struggled to make an impact since joining United, with England boss Southgate admitting his form this season was not worthy of an international call-up.
But he included Sancho in his squad to show his “belief” in the forward, who then started the 5-0 World Cup qualifying win over Andorra on Saturday night.
Albeit against inferior opponents, Sancho provided two assists in a strong 72-minute showing.
“It was not easy for a winger in the game because quite often you are receiving the ball with two, sometimes three, defenders really close,” Southgate said.
“So you’ve got to pick the right moment to set the ball off and the right moments to back yourself to maybe take one or two of those players out and I thought he did that exceptionally well a couple of times.
“It is important that he got the assist because you’ve also got to have that productivity and the right pass or the right cross at the end of those passages of play.”
Southgate confirmed he had taken time out to speak to Sancho since the squad convened at St George’s Park on Tuesday and backed him to show his form in the coming weeks.
“We shouldn’t be surprised that for a young player to have such a big change in his life, new league, new club, different style of play, different training regime, back living in Manchester, moving house and everything that’s involved in that, that’s a lot to take in,” he added.
“So it’s going to need time but he showed a lot of the qualities that he has [against Andorra] and I know that will come with the club as well.”
Someone else who clearly appreciated Sancho’s ability was veteran Andorra defender Ildefons Lima.
The 41-year-old made his record 132nd appearance for his country as a first-half substitute against England but limped off just 32 minutes later having seemingly pulled his hamstring while chasing down Sancho.
The comfortable victory against a battling Andorra side keeps England on course to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
Victory in the Pyrenees extended their run to 28 World Cup Qualifiers without defeat and Southgate was pleased with how his whole squad went about their job at the Estadi Nacional.
“I think these games historically for England teams have been difficult nights,” he added.
“I’ve sat at home and watched some of those. What I like about this group is that whatever the challenge, whatever the environment that they’re put into, they don’t make any excuses.
“We find a way to win the games and we used the ball really well. We showed good discipline because one of the ways the opponent has a chance is if they get you down to 10 men and there were plenty of flashpoints where we could have reacted in the wrong way.
“In the main, we did that well. But the quality of our play was really good and we picked a team to of course manage the whole squad, but also with profile of players in certain positions that we knew would be well-suited to getting in between their defensive midfield and also good in the one-on-one situations wide.
“I’m really pleased with both the quality and the application of all the players.”
bet365 sport. To add to the In-Play excitement, bet365 stream over hundreds of events live to your PC every year. So you can bet as the action unfolds. See all upcoming sport events you can bet at bet experts. Highlights include Masters Series Tennis tournaments and matches from some of the top domestic Soccer leagues in the world. To use the Live Streaming service you need to be log in and have a funded account. Or to have place a bet in the last 24 hours. Any fixture/event on bet365 website and bet365 mobile which has the Play or Video icon is schedule to be show via Live Streaming. bet bg
Make your bet365 registration. Enjoy a unique experience with bet365 and bet365 mobile!
Our forecasts for upcoming meetings have been carefully examine and provide in good faith, but with no guaranteed earnings. We advise you to gamble responsibly and only with the money you can afford to lose.
✅ Registration at bet365 | Account verification | Deposit money | Sports Betting | How to bet | Live Betting | Watch Live Stream | Offers, Bonuses and Promotions| Casino | Poker
18+ | Gamble Responsibly | BeGambleAware.org
BET EXPERTS