“… One way to look at things is Ten Hag was simply answering a question honestly and straightforwardly. Another is that the United manager saw a passing bus and chose to throw Sancho under it, that he could quite easily have fobbed the question off with benign platitudes and avoided potentially alienating one of his squad. It does raise the question: is it ever justified for a manager to single out an individual player for public criticism? What purpose does it serve? Is it just the boss lashing out in frustration, or is there a more deliberate purpose to it all? Does it actually work? …”
The Athletic