Former Man Utd striker Louis Saha believes Erik ten Hag did not take the right action in publicly criticising Jadon Sancho.

The Dutch head coach is facing a potential headache on his hands at the start of the season.

After a 3-1 loss to Arsenal, Ten Hag stated that Sancho did not train well enough to get a spot on the bench, while the forward responded on Twitter by defending his professionalism.

"Sancho and Ten Hag is not a great situation, it's not what you want to see," Saha told Paddy Power.

"We've seen managers where they open up unnecessarily and this was one of those times. You don't need to leave out a player and then expose him.

"[Sancho's] already not doing too well so he's [ten Hag] putting Sancho's head down under the water a bit. It is a private decision, sometimes the manager has to go public about a player, but in this case it wasn't necessary.

“Of course, Sancho has to defend himself, he thinks he has done okay physically and commitment wise, and the manager is asking for more. It wasn't necessary from the manager; I feel sorry for both because it's an unnecessary situation.

“Sometimes those difficult discussions have to be private and even if you shout and you are not happy, you keep that to yourself and not to the journalists because look at the situation now. It puts Sancho in a situation where he has to defend himself. He's professional and he wants to prove that he can play for the club, so that's why he defended himself."