Erik ten Hag insists Jadon Sancho will continue to take penalties for Manchester United, despite the Englishman suffering more Wembley penalty disappointment in the Community Shield.
Sancho had his spot-kick saved against the post by Ederson as Manchester United lost 7-6 on penalties to rivals Manchester City after a 1-1 draw in Saturday’s Community Shield.
It represented the second significant penalty miss of Sancho’s career at Wembley, after he and England teammates Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford all missed in the final of Euro 2020 as Italy prevailed in that shootout.
Sancho spent the second half of last season on loan at Borussia Dortmund, finishing as a Champions League runner-up with the side he left to loan United for £73million in July 2021 during the delayed Euro 2020 finals. He had a falling out with Ten Hag in the first half of last season, but the two have since made amends with their relationship and he could spend this season at United.
Asked whether he will protect Sancho after a second penalty miss at the national stadium, the United manager said: “He’s a very good penalty taker and I had — and have — no doubts to let him score a penalty. Also in the future, he will take penalties.”
United were pegged back to 1-1 in the Community Shield by Bernardo Silva’s 89th-minute equaliser and lost 7-6 on spot-kicks.
Ten Hag said of the match: “We are disappointed. We have to feel the pain and everyone does. But also I see some positives. We performed well and could have won this game.
“We were twice leading in the game. Then on penalties we lost. It is just disappointing that we couldn’t bring it over the line.”
Before the match, United are believed to have finally tied up deals to sign Bayern Munich defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.
Quizzed as to whether he could confirm the signings, Ten Hag replied: “No I can’t. When we have news, we will announce it. It’s clear we have problems [with numbers in defence]. You need squad depth and players that can play in different positions.”
