When Erik ten Hag was asked why Jadon Sancho was absent from his Manchester United squad against Arsenal, there were a number of ways he could have dealt with the question. He could have said the player was feeling unwell. He could have said that this was not the right match for him. He could have said that the coach makes the decisions. Instead, he was brutally honest.
"On his performance on training we didn't select him," the manager said. "You have to reach the level every day at Manchester United. You can make choices in the front line, so in this game, he wasn't selected."
Sancho, who has done hardly any media in the last year and is not usually vocal on social, immediately fired back. Within an hour of Ten Hag's press conference, Sancho had crafted a message which he posted on Twitter: "Please don't believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that is 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, I've been a scapegoat for a long time which isn't fair!"
Out of nowhere, Ten Hag suddenly had a another serious problem on his hands. One he really didn't need after an injury crisis, the still fresh fallout relating to the Mason Greenwood affair and now another uncomfortable situation surrounding Antony. How he deals with it all will define how he is viewed by his players and by fans...