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Mar 09, 2023 04:37-05:00

This is Jadon Sancho's moment! Man Utd star's golden chance to take starting spot away from appalling Antony or limited Wout Weghorst

A traumatic defeat at Anfield has created a huge opportunity for the England winger to prove his worth to manager Erik ten Hag.

The 7-0 thrashing by Liverpool hurt everyone involved with Manchester United, but there is one player who could benefit from the debacle.

Jadon Sancho watched on from the bench and was spared the embarrassment of having to come on and be part of probably the worst result in the club's history.

Now he has a real opportunity to seize the moment and secure a spot in Erik ten Hag's starting line-up for the rest of the season after fellow attackers Antony and Wout Weghorst flopped during the humiliating defeat.

The forward has had a real stop-start campaign, beginning it in flying form with crucial goals over Liverpool and Leicester, only to fade in confidence before being completely removed from the first team squad and placed on an individual training programme by Ten Hag.

There was a three-and-a-half month gap between his last match against Chelsea in October and his return against Nottingham Forest, although he scored in his second game back to rescue a 2-2 draw with Leeds.

He then earned a starting berth away to Barcelona in the Europa League and then came off the bench to score in the 3-0 win against Leicester.

However, he missed out on a place in the line-up in the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle, only coming on for the final eight minutes, while illness prevented him from facing West Ham in the FA Cup.

The effects of the illness might explain why he played no part against Liverpool, but he should be in the frame to start against Real Betis in Thursday's Europa League last-16 first leg.

And he could not have asked for a better moment to prove himself to his manager...

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Just work harder than ineffective Antony
A natural choice for Ten Hag would be to deploy Sancho on the right of United's attack in place of Antony, who was appalling at Anfield.
The Brazilian was ineffectual in attack, firing a couple of weak efforts at Alisson from his favoured shooting from the right wing with his left foot. He also hindered several attacking moves by not playing passes into Marcus Rashford quick enough.
But worst of all was his contribution, or lack thereof, in defence.
He failed to support Diogo Dalot, offering free reign to Andy Robertson, who set up Cody Gakpo's opening strike.
Micah Richards tore into Antony on Match of the Day 2.
"There was no communication between Dalot and Antony, at times it was like they were playing with 10 men because Antony wasn't doing his work at all down that side," the former Manchester City defender said.
"Antony needs to come into that position and he doesn't do it. It kept happening and happening throughout the game.
"If I'm a right-back like Dalot, I'm screaming at him. When they lose the ball, he just walks. When they win the ball back, he's not in position. Antony is nowhere to be seen."
Given how low the bar is after Sunday's game, all Sancho needs to do to improve on Antony is put in a shift defensively.
"If I'm Jadon Sancho, I'd be training this week thinking 'Hold on, he's not tracked back once', so I'd be expecting to be playing this week," added Troy Deeney.

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Take on players in the way Weghorst cannot
What will it take for Ten Hag to admit the Wout Weghorst experiment is not working?
The Dutch striker was signed essentially as an emergency, low-cost replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese cut ties with the club.
He had impressed at the World Cup as a substitute and it was expected that he would be used sparingly.
Instead, he has started all 14 matches United have had since he joined on loan from Besiktas.
In that time, he has scored one goal, against Nottingham Forest, and provided three assists.
And in the biggest games he has looked woefully unequipped. He was poor in the 3-2 defeat by Arsenal and was taken off at half-time against Barcelona, with United turning the game around in the second half. And whilst he was not the worst performer at Anfield, he was easily dealt with by Liverpool's defence.
Sancho might not be a natural No.10, preferring to play on the wing, but surely he can be better than Weghorst in the role.
For one, he is nimble and can dribble past defenders and play key short passes into tight spaces – something his Dutch counterpart looked incapable of doing on Sunday.
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Rekindle relationship with Rashford & Bruno
Another thing in Sancho's favour is his ability to dovetail with Bruno Fernandes and Rashford.
He has had an extra season on both Weghorst and Antony in that respect and also has played and trained with Rashford for England.
He has combined to devastating effect with both players in the home and away fixtures against Leicester, and can be an asset on the counter-attack due to his pace and agility, two attributes the Dutchman and the Brazilian both lack.
If he can rekindle his on-pitch relationship with United's two most influential attackers, then Ten Hag will find it very hard to leave him out.
It all comes down to Sancho, then. He's back in the spotlight. This is his moment. It's time for Sancho to shine again.

Just work harder than ineffective Antony

Take on players in the way Weghorst cannot

Rekindle relationship with Rashford & Bruno