Why Jadon Sancho was not in the Manchester United squad vs Fulham

Jadon Sancho was not named in the Manchester United squad against Fulham partly due to an ear infection.

Sancho made his first competitive United appearance in nearly a year as a substitute in the Community Shield against Manchester City last week but he was absent from the matchday squad for the 1-0 opening Premier League win against Fulham.

United manager Erik ten Hag clarified Sancho was fit enough to be included but he opted to name Alejandro Garnacho, Joshua Zirkzee and Antony as the attacking substitutes.

"First of all, we need squad depth," Ten Hag said. "This season is the survival of the fittest but I can only put 20 players in the squad, I have to make choices.

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"And Jadon in the week had an ear infection and was not 100% fit for this. He could play but if you can make choices, I made the choice that we preferred other players on the bench.

"That can change and will definitely change in the season where we have to rotate because we can’t play every game with the same. You see today how important subs are, we need the right bench and the right balance.

"Sometimes it is frustrating for the player but it’s about the team, it’s about the club, there will be more players in this position but we expect them to fight for the club. We have so many games to play, everyone will have their minutes and then they have to prove it."

United beat Fulham through debutant Zirkzee's 87th-minute prod. Zirkzee came on after 60 minutes as United squandered three great chances, having performed profligately in the 1-1 draw with City and the 3-0 friendly defeat to Liverpool in South Carolina two weeks ago.

Ten Hag reiterated United have to be more clinical. "One space that we have to fill is to kill in the box, we saw it in the friendlies, we saw it last week against City, we create enough chances not to wait for a late winner," he said.

"So we could have earlier been in the winning position. We have to be more composed and we have to kill and execute in front of the goal.

"It’s the start of the season, players have to come into full speed, we have enough players in the squad with scoring abilities and the most important thing is we created chances."