Man Utd legend Andy Cole in agreement with Paul Merson over Erik ten Hag and Jadon Sancho spat

Andy Cole and Paul Merson are in agreement over the Jadon Sancho situation at Manchester United.

Sancho has fallen out with Erik ten Hag after the latter’s decision to call out the winger for his performances in training over the weekend. Asked why Sancho was not in the squad to face Arsenal over the weekend, Ten Hag said: “Jadon, on his performances in training we did not select him.”

After those comments, Sancho hit back at his boss, claiming the remarks were not all that accurate.

The England international wrote on X: “Please don’t believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that is (sic) completely untrue, I have conducted myself in training very well this week.

“I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won’t go into, l’ve been a scapegoat for a long time which isn’t fair! “All I want to do is play football with a smile on my face and contribute to my team. I respect all decisions that are made by the coaching staff, I play with fantastic players and (am) grateful to do so which I know every week is a challenge. I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what!”

Ten Hag has been criticised on the back of his decision to make his Sancho opinions public, with United legend Cole telling Betfred: “I don’t know. I’ve seen all the reports and I’ve giggled at some of the more ridiculous ones, but it all depends on how people want to perceive this situation. If Sir Alex Ferguson ever had a problem with a player, it didn’t leave the dressing room.

“So you can argue that Erik ten Hag has come out and said something negative about his player and he didn’t have to do that. If he didn’t say anything, then nobody’s getting wind of this situation. However, now he’s made the situation public, Jadon has now come out to defend himself.”

Cole added: “Manchester United haven’t started the season in a good way and Erik ten Hag didn’t need to create another distraction that the club doesn’t need. It just didn’t need to happen. All the publicity surrounding the club at the moment is negative and it can have an adverse reaction on the players because people just expect them to get their heads down and play football, but of course this negativity is going to affect them.”

Cole isn’t the only one to have pointed out Ten Hag’s error, with Paul Merson telling Sky Sports of United’s early season struggles: “I think the manager’s got to be braver. He’s got the players to be braver. It’s too negative - counter-attacking football. I do worry for Man Utd.

“The Sir Alex Ferguson days are long gone. They’re as far away from winning the league as you’ll ever see. I know everyone’s a long way off Manchester City but they’re a million miles off. You forget they’re one of the biggest teams in the world. Man Utd can’t even stump up £7m for Marc Cucurella. They’re taking a player [Sergio Reguilon] that can’t even play for Tottenham. They’ve got the Jadon Sancho thing now as well. Just keep it in-house.”