Enzo Maresca had a few interesting things to work through in yesterday’s press conference, not least questions about Jadon Sancho.
The winger was Maresca’s first choice on the left for a while, but has lost his place. There were some questions early on about Sancho’s form where the coach hinted a little darkly that his player needed to up his work rate in training.
However perhaps the most important moment of all came a little later, when Maresca was asked if Sancho could play on the right hand side:
“Yes. For sure, he can do that. No doubt,” Maresca replied confidently.
Sancho offered new chance to get back into first team plans in a new role
Why does that matter so much? Well, the queue on the left is long and getting longer. Pedro Neto has now re-established himself as first choice, and Mykhailo Mudryk played well in the Conference League a week ago and will want to continue starting in the cups at the very least.
That means no space for Sancho, even in the B team, unless he’s willing to play on the right wing. And we reckon we could see him there are soon as tonight. Until now, Neto’s versatility to play either side has benefitted him, and we saw him used down the right as Noni Madueke’s B team fill in. But now Neto has been promoted to first choice on the left, Sancho’s best chance of playing is that role.
We await the teamsheets tonight, and there are a number of ways that right wing role can be filled – but we suspect it will be a chance for Sancho to try out the far side. That helps get him some minutes after a couple of games off, and helps the team in finding a player to fill that gap.