Is Jadon Sancho ready to start games for Borussia Dortmund?

Borussia Dortmund’s rising star Jadon Sancho continued his stunning start to the season as he became the leading assist maker in Europe’s top five leagues, despite not starting a single league game.

Jadon Sancho was the hero once again in Dortmund’s fiery comeback against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. With two assists in that match, Sancho turned the game around after setting up Marco Reus and Paco Alcacer to seal the deal for Dortmund. After a stunning start to the season, is Sancho worthy of starting for the Black and Yellows?

Sancho is a left winger but can replace Pulisic on the right wing as we saw on Saturday against Leverkusen. Sancho currently competes with Jacob Brunn Larsen for his spot on the left but all three players are in red-hot form which leaves Favre in a position to make a decision on who will start.

But before we can take a look at who goes where we must look at Dortmund’s formation. This season Dortmund have employed the 4-3-3 twice, which was against Leipzig and Hannover. And the 4-2-3-1 formation has been used for the rest of their matches. Favre has experimented with many players in the defence and Witsel and Delaney in the midfield. If Favre chooses to stick to the 4-2-3-1 which includes Sancho on the left and Pulisic on the right with Reus in the middle and Alcacer upfront, then we can expect a solid attacking power, especially in the counter attack.

This is mainly because Sancho and Reus link up so well that Reus can expect plenty of service from the young Englishman. And Pulisic on the right because of his crossing and his ability to get past defenders, which will benefit Alcacer who has excellent awareness and positioning. But of course, Bruun Larsen is also not to be forgotten.

The Dane excels the most when he focuses on attack. During the first half against Leverkusen continuous back passes to Diallo and not enough effort in bringing the ball into the box left him with an average first half. He turned it around in the second half when he started getting the ball in the box and pushing forward which led to his goal. He even ended up playing the whole game after Pulisic made way for the young Englishman.

But is all of this just part of Favre’s plan? He knows he has excellent options on the wings so why use your secret weapon at the start? Sancho is usually subbed in fairly late in the second half and immediately makes an impact on the game. By then most of the defenders are tiring and that’s what Favre takes advantage of. His devastating pace makes him impossible to keep up with which is why he still manages to bag crucial assists late in the game.

“I don’t want to be a sub”, said Sancho to Bundesliga.com. He has the confidence which is a very positive sign and Favre will probably take that into account. Both Reus and Sancho have exceptional chemistry and if they start to link up earlier in the game then the better it is for both players.

But its also important to not rush things right now. Lucien Favre clearly knows what he’s doing and with games coming thick and Sancho will get plenty of opportunities to start games this season. Dortmund will play Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday where we can hope to see some more Sancho magic.