Aston Villa substitution got Manchester United fans talking but don’t buy into the bluster
Like so many footballers before him, Jadon Sancho was visibly infuriated when he was substituted in Aston Villa’s Premier League win over Manchester City on Sunday.
Villa were a goal to the good at Villa Park when the winger, on loan from Manchester United for the season, was substituted with 16 minutes and stoppage time left to play.
Sancho skulked off the field, blanking substitute Ross Barkley on the way, and ignored Villa manager Unai Emery as he crossed the touchline. A cursory acknowledgement of his replacement, Evann Guessand, did nothing to hide the fact that he was clearly livid.
That’s rarely an issue. Managers shrug it off all the time. They want players to be desperate to stay on the pitch, they say. They like the hunger. Sancho’s reaction to being substituted wasn’t ideal – far from it – but these things happen and managers of Emery’s calibre can handle them with ease.
Sunday’s particular example was exacerbated by the fact that Sancho himself had come on as a substitute in the game. Emi Buendía started the match but went off injured within half an hour, giving Sancho a chance to follow up a positive showing in the Europa League three days earlier.
A substitute being substituted is a bitter pill to swallow, further mitigating Sancho’s frustration.
As a United player with a recent Chelsea loan on his CV, Sancho is under a little more scrutiny than most of his Villa teammates.
Social media fanaticism is not real
Where Villa supporters are primarily concerned with his ability or otherwise to rediscover his best form and help improve the team’s attack, the extremely online, one-eyed, banter-drunk fanatics of Football Twitter are desperate to see him fail for reasons best known to themselves.
Unable to hold more than one thought in their tiny brains at once, they saw that Sancho had been substituted as a substitute in a match they didn’t watch and decided it was either hilarious or evidence of something or other.
It’s a shame so many legitimate media people have made the same leap and strapped rocket skates to the word ’embarrassing’ but what can you do.
Having actually watched the match along with every other second Sancho or anyone else has played for Villa this season, here’s the truth.
No slight on Sancho
Sancho was understandably unhappy but he wasn’t substituted because of his performance on Sunday. His performance, while unspectacular, was fine.
He has barely played with Lucas Digne on the left, he’s just coming back from a long bout of illness and his Premier League minutes for Villa have been limited, yet he had an impact on the game.
Emery’s job with Villa in the lead and quarter of an hour remaining was to make the changes he felt would win him the match. If you think that decision should be affected by whether a player started the game or came on later, I’m afraid you and I see football quite differently.
Sancho will get over Sunday. He’s been growing into his role at Villa and he has a manager who’s smart enough to address the decision with him directly. Yes, it was probably a little embarrassing but it wasn’t the dire/hilarious condemnation some people would like it to have been.
The loan has a long way to go and Sancho has loads to prove. One thing’s for sure: however things turn out for Sancho at Villa, it’s none of Football Twitter’s business.
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