On Twitter, the Daily Mirror’s John Cross hasn’t held back in his criticism of Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez in recent weeks, including a tweet during Arsenal vs Manchester City which read “This performance should put anyone off Sanchez. There’s generally a reason why big clubs like Barcelona sell good players”.
There was also an article in the Mirror last week from the their chief football writer which questioned Sanchez’s work rate because “his running lets him down”.
As John likes a stat, we’ve got nine for him, compiled by Oulala.com.
Sanchez makes the top five in nine key areas in the Premier League this season. However, apparently “he doesn’t run around as much as you’d think”, which is of course the only stat that we really care about, right?
Of the 513 players to have appeared in the Premier League this season, the Chilean has directly been involved in the most goals (27), is the third top scorer (18), ranks fourth for assists (9), chances created (76) and successful dribbles (80), while he has also registered the fifth most shots (95) of any player.
The stats go on to show how well Sanchez has performed both defensively and in possession. The 28-year-old ranks second of all forwards (83) for tackles won (40), interceptions (18) and passes (1,189).
So, a question to Arsenal fans, do you want a player that covers a lot of ground like Peter Crouch, Shinji Okazaki or Ashley Barnes or one that scores, assists, creates, shoots, dribbles, tackles, intercepts and passes? Tough choice, right?
Russell Cane
Sanchez is okay as a striker, but I think he would be better if he plays as a central attacking midfielder, behind a striker. He can be a playmaker in that position, as opposed to fight the opponent’s defenders. He has exceptional ball control, dribbling and finishing abilities like Aguero, but he doesn’t have Aguero’s speed. Instead he has great vision and passing abilities, thus he would be very suitable in the central attacking midfielder position. Unfortunately Arsenal has to play Ozil and Sanchez together, and Ozil cannot play on the wings.
For the central attacking midfielder and the inverted winger positions, I want players that scores, assists, creates, shoots, dribbles, tackles, intercepts and passes. The ground cover should be done by the box-to-box midifielder like Ramsey, Vieira, Kante (in Leicester City) or Pogba. It is essential for Arsenal to find another player like Sanchez and Cazorla, a playmaker type of player, the one that can be the midfield general next season.
Not really. He’s a ball hog and that hampers distribution. He should be left in the front line, anywhere.
There’s a reason why Alexis only stayed 3 years with Barca, and Udinese before that. For all his contributions, he’s an extremely selfish player. Last I checked, football is still a team sport, and he would be 10 times player that he already is if he just learned how to pass the ball once in a while as opposed to trying to take on 3 defenders at once. He was the worst player on the pitch on Sunday with 7 giveaways, and 3 misplaced passes (Yes, I counted). People are very quick to judge Ozil and his “disappearance” in big games, yet it’s Sanchez who looks all out of sorts lately. Even his Chile teammates are not amused with him anymore. Appreciate everything he’s done for us, but his recent antics make me think that he’s more of a distraction now than he is a contributor. Hate to lose the guy like that, but I think it’s time to say Goodbye to him in the summer. Hopefully he goes abroad (PSG, Juve), and if that’s the case, I wish him all the best. But if he decides to join Chelsea, City, Utd, or even Pool, he’d be even worse than all of the rats that left in the past combined. Wenger, for all of his shortcomings, has given him a chance to become what he is today, and I’d expect some gratitude in return. Just my 2 cents…
If you are surrounded by players that don’t match your pace and ambition, do you think you will be the same? when he came he was the only one running around like a mad man, and the rest were doing what? watching him do it, alone. he gets tired giving the ball to teammates who directs it back or loses it and breaks the counter attack, that’s why he tries doing the things alone..
he scored a lot of goals playing as central striker, but the old man pushes him to the wing. he goes, and we are remaining with all overrated players that are OK with 4th as a trophy
Last season Sanchez had a dip,Wenger came out saying it was because Sanchez on the left wing is a bit too predictable and he moved Sanchez to the right where he was back to his best. Now that Wenger needs to deflect attention he has moved Sanchez back to the left wing where he is less effective since he needs to cut back to get to his shooting foot.
Had we continued to play Sanchez in the middle he would now be top scorer in the PL.
Yes 2 reasons why Sanchez was sent back to the wings
(1) With Welbeck we have more pace in the counter
(2) Welbeck cannot create anything from the wings – so he needs to play striker which means Sanchez has to play the wings.
I wonder why Wenger never tries playing Sanchez in the no 10 role and Iwobi in the wings. May be his pass accuracy is not high enough
Well to provide you with facts there are 11 players who play on the pitch and all of them they need to stand up. I am with you when you say even Sanchez went missing in the big games but did he miss chance after chance or have a really bad game ? He didn’t so lets not compare him and Ozil. Our shape means that if Ozil doesn’t create we have nothing (which of our players can create?) so we are heavily reliant on ozil playing well and ozil does not get the ball because the mid field cannot keep the ball for their lives. Our problem is NOT ozil/Sanchez but our midfield – which has collectively let us down this season !!!! Xhaka looks like a complete waste and Coq’s form is worrying. Less said about Ramsey the better !
I read your previous posts on the other threads. It seemed you don’t like Sanchez keeps getting the praises whereas your other favorite players like Ozil gets blamed for the loses. Your posts are not based on the reality and very subjective. Here are your thoughts:
“There’s a reason why Alexis only stayed 3 years with Barca, and Udinese before that.”
Sanchez moved from Udinese to Barcelona to improve his career. Udinese accepted Barcelona’s big money as it means huge profit. He only stayed for several years in Barcelona, because he knew he would be Neymar’s backup. He asked to be transfer listed.
“For all his contributions, he’s an extremely selfish player. Last I checked, football is still a team sport, and he would be 10 times player that he already is if he just learned how to pass the ball once in a while as opposed to trying to take on 3 defenders at once.”
He is selfish, but not extremely and not all the times. Are the world greatest attackers like Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Suarez and Bale selfish? Sometimes yes. But look at their and Sanchez’s number of assists so far. That is the proof of their contributions to their teams.
“He was the worst player on the pitch on Sunday with 7 giveaways, and 3 misplaced passes (Yes, I counted). People are very quick to judge Ozil and his “disappearance” in big games, yet it’s Sanchez who looks all out of sorts lately.”
He was one of the worst players on that day, not the only one. Ozil made a big mistake and made the opponent scored easily. At least Sanchez didn’t make such big mistake in that game. In my opinion, Ozil was worse than Sanchez on that day. Ozil often cannot control and hold the ball in Arsenal’s games this season, put them in a lot of troubles. Sanchez should be played in the central attacking midfielder position for a few games, then we can compare them.
“Appreciate everything he’s done for us, but his recent antics make me think that he’s more of a distraction now than he is a contributor. Hate to lose the guy like that, but I think it’s time to say Goodbye to him in the summer. Hopefully he goes abroad (PSG, Juve), and if that’s the case, I wish him all the best. But if he decides to join Chelsea, City, Utd, or even Pool, he’d be even worse than all of the rats that left in the past combined. Wenger, for all of his shortcomings, has given him a chance to become what he is today, and I’d expect some gratitude in return.”
The praises has gotten into his head, accumulated with his high ambition and expectation of his teammates. But he still contributes. He is still trying to play and practice hard like a professional. It showed when he played in Arsenal’s shirt, unlike some lacklustre players that can only do safe backpasses and unwilling to fight for their team. All the combined “rats” that joined Chelsea, City and United are actually fought hard for Arsenal, before finally have to move because Arsenal is stagnant under the current Arsenal staffs and boards. Sanchez would not be worse or better than those “rats” if he joined one of our competitors. Arsenal staffs and boards are worse because they let the club quality went down.
Hey! he is selfish because he knows that no one else will (or can) do everything that he can (and does).
I would be selfish if I was him.
Does Ronaldo pass the ball if he has a chance to score himself?
I was going to say the same, very good point. I don’t like how he keeps the ball too long, but what other options does he have? Pass to Giroud, Ramsey, Coquelin, or even Ozil!
Sanchez has won “man of the match” almost every game this season, yet still gets criticised. He’s a leader on, and off the pitch (we’ve been begging for leaders for years), and even gets criticised for that. It’s joke! Before any pundit, or fan gets within a million miles of criticising Sanchez, please criticise other regulars first. Why doesn’t Cech get almost any criticism? Koscienly seems to avoid negative press most of the time. Mustafi, and Xhaka, cost over £70 million combined, should we not be tearing them up? Ozil is our most expensive player ever, but does he offer much? And so on…
We badly need to keep Sanchez, and that should be our number one target in terms of players. Number one target overall, is obviously appointing a sane manager.
You basically touched on it, no-one is above criticism.
Alexis has a will to win, a burning desire to not get beat, but don’t mistake that for leadership.
Yes. Thanks for the objectivity. He needs to be controlled and NOT sold. We as a club need to show some balls- make the right buys in the summer and let him play out the remainder of his contract. may be if we win the league the next year he may choose to stay but I find it hard to imagine top players staying with us if we don’t have CL OR start wining OR pay insane money.
On a separate note- why we got Xhaka I will never understand. Apart from Ozil and Sanchez there is no creativity in this team and we are suffering like never before.
Actually if you observe closely the only guy who he trusts reading his speed of thought is Ozil. some of the breath taking moves have been between Sanchez Ozil and not surprisingly Iwobi.
I think it’s time to let Ozil go and use that money to keep Sanchez at all costs. Our attack (if Sanchez stays is good enough to win the PL) We need an overhaul of the mid-field though; world class players need to come in
How selfish can he be when is 4th for assists?
arsenal fans are to take some of the blame for the weak arsenal team we all know wenger doesn’t like to buy players but we keep praising average players an calling the world class bellerin ozil now even the ox is a midfielder general what does any arsenal players does well wish one of our present players ability can change the game at any time Wolcott allways in position to score easy sitter but those he gives weigh to the team putting pin point crosses inside the box now Sanchez our Center forward never inside the box we never crosse the ball inside the box why ask you self that question
See the covering ground. That can be easily manipulated. Remember when Elneny and Ozil I think, not sure, remember when they kept hitting two yard passes back to one another then Elneny got a huge number of accurate passes on his stats. It depends what intent is in the movement and if it leads to anything good (defence and attack). We could all play football if covering distance is the requirement. What about how some players can just switch wings when they want, can basically move with freedom all over the pitch. Then like say a fullback, he has to be on his mark most of the game, only moving up and down when necessary. Then a striker much of the time has a fixed area too. This is baloney. You’re right with the stats you showed, they count and cannot be manipulated as easily.
Its a team game, he is not YET Mr Arsenal. Play with the team and he will be a much better player. Love him as a player, but he needs to commit to us if we are going to keep supporting him. Am hoping this bad press is just papers exaggerating truths. if a player is not 100% Gooner, See Ya!!!