Is Arsenal boss wrong to believe Alexis will fire this season?

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has stated that he has no doubts over the mindset of Alexis Sanchez,and that he hopes he will be ‘back to his best quickly’.

The Chilean international made his return to action in the demoralising 4-0 defeat to Liverpool, a game in which none of our players appeared to impress, and following a failed deadline day move, questions have been raised on his mentality.

Sanchez was believed to have agreed terms with Manchester City prior to the Gunners failing to persuade Thomas Lemar to come in as a replacement, resulting in the move breaking down.

There is now worries that the players who wanted to leave, and no longer can, could possibly hold the team back, but Wenger is of the belief that Sanchez will not be distracted from his starring role.

“I have no doubt about Alexis’ mind and mentality, that people question,” the Frenchman said.

“He needs to come back to full fitness, which he was not (at) against Liverpool. It was his first game, and he has suffered a negative experience with Chile.

“But he is strong mentally and hopefully he will be back very quickly to his best.”

Is Wenger being naive when it comes to Alexis attitude? Is the 67 year-old simply telling us what he thinks we want to hear?

Pat J

Tags alexis sanchez Arsenal Wenger

38 Comments

    1. Oh, get over it. One bad loss to Liverpool, that is built to attack out style of playing, you all bent out of shape.

        1. If that was a serious question, my sense was that Wenger’s plan that day was make Liverpool tired by the 60th min, and bring in these two fresh for the win. In other words, he knew it was going to be about snatching a win from predicted loss.

          That is my hunch for what it is worth.

        2. It wasn’t correct. Do you know what is also not correct, everyone saying the same thing over and over and over gain on different article.

  1. Alexis needs a big brother right now to sit him down and help him out with some issues.

    – He has issues with Chile fans now
    – People attacking his girl
    – Fat shamming him
    – He might be missing Pep who obviously tapped him up from the moment he got to England
    – Arsene might not be his favourite person
    – He might be a loaner in the dressing room now
    – its 50 – 50 between arsenal fans
    – He might have bought his dogs small Man City shirts, etc.

    For the benefit of this club (since we are paying him and all, fat or not), hire a doctor Phil for him or better still hire Mr. T so that he puts him through the paces and put some sense into him.

    1. He is still the best player in the team, and like one the best in the EPL. So, even 50% of Sanchez is better than Theo like players.

      The boss is interested in moving Sanchez, but only if he can bring in a younger superstar who can work with Lacazette. There is money for a great player only, and that too for a forward. Those plans were dashed with Qatar panicked and sort to enhance its international image via PSG.

      Wenger does not have money to fix the middle and defense with the plan for replacing Sanchez. That means finding an unheralded player and turning him into the role needed. In my view, Wenger already has a mid-field dominator in Kolasanic, whose mobility and size are useful in front of the back line and behind Ozil.

        1. He was not “benched”. He is new. You ease new players in. You trust that your regulars can do the job, and it clear now they did not. That is why the Ox was gladly rid of.

          The key thing here is that we were expected to lose this one to Liverpool. Not 0-1, but 0-3. We lost 0-4 due to where Ramsey was playing (as a number 10 in his head!) and the errors of Xhaka (need to be fixed), Ox (not interested)…

          So, yes. Get over it. Focus on the next game. That is how these things are fixed.

            1. Theoretically, we should win this 2-0, or even better.

              However, I fear all the fans coming there wanting their team to go down, in effect, cut the nose to spite the face. Morale is low. We could lose this 0-2.

              If we win, it is because players are resilient and angry, not just at the media, hopefully at the fans. I hope they win, and then walk away without bowing to the fans, who do not deserve to be part of Arsenal.

              1. I have to say I find it silly to assume traveling fans who pay their hard earned money want anything but the best for the club. Sure they might be disappointed with poor efforts and express their dismay like all fans. But they make an effort to travel to away games and should be respected and not ignored.

                Of course it is more pleasant for the players and the managers to be applauded than to be booed but to blame bad results on the fans is folly. How come teams like Newcastle who have cheering fans season after season still got relegated?

                Fans can change an atmosphere but there is little they can do to effect a win if that was the case the home team would always win and we would have won the PL in the past 13 years when we had happy fans for the majority of the time.

    2. “– He might have bought his dogs small Man City shirts, etc.” LOL! Nearly laughed coffee onto my screen from that one.

  2. After denying it all of last season, Wenger FINALLY admitted that his contract situation was a problem for the team, and now he keeps god knows how many players against their will, and expects there to be no problems! How hypocritical, delusional can you get!

    Obviously our players are professionals, and I don’t expect any of them to do a Diego Costa, but it’s still a terrible situation to have so many players, that also happen to be regular starters, that either don’t want to play for the manager, or the club, or both.

    1. The truth is that the team needed Wenger to carry on. So, after thinking of leaving he came back. He was honest about it. Human about it.

      Did that alone undermine the team? No, even if he says it. NO. We down some 15 games at the end of last season not including the FACup.

      All this angst is about not being in the top four, and Liverpool beat us to it. Liverpool was designed to beat us and then Pep’s team. So, now Wenger has to counter that.

      Action, reaction. In football rebuilds take time. At least two years. We are now on year on. Dead weights gone, but more to go. Noisy entitled players gone, but more to go. Small squad, with better players on higher salaries should improve the effectiveness of Arsenal’s style.

      That is why we are looking at highly talented players at a King’s ransom. Rather than a bunch of goons playing old English style football.

      Now of course fans do not much about this. For them it is just about keeping up with the big three, but without the cash of those clubs, you need to inventive like Liverpool. We need not copy their style, but made our own more effective for the 30 odd EPL games left to play.

  3. One of the Chile coaches said this week that Alexis looks fatter than his usual weight.

    It will take some time for him to get into shape if that is the case.

    But it’s very worrying because usually we never need to worry about Alexis’ physical fitness. He likes to workout even when he is on holiday. He is usually mentally strong with a good work ethic.

    We need Alexis to be focused on his training and playing for Arsenal this season.

    Another reason why Wenger should have signed Lemar, Draxler or Mahrez. Alexis Could easily get injured too. Wenger doesn’t think about these things or thinks we are fine with Welbeck, Walcott, Reiss

    1. Does he look fatter to you? He doesn’t to me? I don’t believe that is his problem. l do think he needs to clear his mind.

  4. “Another reason why Wenger should have signed Lemar, Draxler or Mahrez. Alexis Could easily get injured too. Wenger doesn’t think about these things or thinks we are fine with Welbeck, Walcott, Reiss.”

    So Wenger is an idiot coach, and you cleverer than him?

    If you paid any attention to his insight into the game and what it takes to win the EPL, you would not so simplistic. Lemar can be had, but at a price. Wenger tried, and will try again. Draxler wants to to Barcelona! Mahrez is is okay, but the 50M demanded for him, will mean no money for a really world class player.

    The people here attacking Wenger perhaps think that being a manager is like playing the role on Playstation. It has to be so, otherwise I cannot understand why most you have no clue. Today the internet is full of nonsense–not just the daily garbage from English tabloids. So the mediocrity of thinking is not surprising.

    1. People keep attacking Wenger because he consistently makes basic errors that you wouldn’t even expect from an amateur manager, let alone one on £8 million a year! Wenger’s been working with some of his players for so long, that I imagine the average time spent managing each player, must be in the region of 5/6 years. Yet despite this, he STILL DOESN’T KNOW what positions his players are best suited for. That is shocking management! There’s no other way of putting it.

      1. If that is the case, Arsenal would have been relegated. What is real, is that most of the senior English players think they are number 10s! (They all want to play in the middle! Or through the middle, even if they have no final ball that is worthy.) So, Wenger has to manage their egos. In other top clubs with endless money, you sell the player and get another one, but at Arsenal Wenger was trying to build an English core, to serve England, like he was accused of serving France back in the days of the double.

        If you think you know more football than one of the world’s top managers, think again. Once of the hardest things is managing egos.

        What Wenger has done is create careers for players dumped by the big clubs, players who he bought into the system to be home grown, and the others that might suit the team’s attacking style that has given it a global following.

        Give credit to the man who has kept the team relevant through its successful stadium build phase. He is now facing unprecedented competition with teams bending rules. Without those rules, and given that he is not a cheat, he would do better. They could find a foreign buyer for the club and play as hard as any other club in the world.

        We are lucky to have Wenger.

    2. This is the sort of dribble that passes for analysis… Do go find a program on some celebrity show and watch that please, if you are looking for Wenger’s love child!

    3. “So the mediocrity of thinking is not surprising” neither is the mediocrity of the results Wenger generates.

      I love pseudo intellectuals like you JJPawn, who thinly praise their own (thin) thinking whilst spewing nonsense like “The truth is that the team needed Wenger to carry on”. What the club needed was for Wenger to move on years ago and for the club to sign Allegri or Koeman or Simeoni and yes even Big Sam would have done for a transition season.

      “Liverpool was designed to beat us”, the arrogance to think Liverpool was designed to beat us. Anyone with an ounce of interest in football will have noticed that Liverpool plays Klopp’s way. Jurgen’s Dortmund even played along the same lines. Liverpool played us the same way last season. None of the top managers are concerned about Arsenal and would never design their team to beat us. Man U plays Mourinho’s way, City plays Pep’s way and Liverpool plays Klopp’s way. Arsenal nor Wenger has made one iota’s difference to the way these managers play.

      These are all silly hot air statements that lack any basis in truth.

      1. think someone has a tattoo of wenger on his arse!

        there is just no reasoning with such die-hard, blind faithed, illogical cultists.

        forget all the countless faux – pas , wrong decisions, incompetence and sloth like reactions along with years of failure at home and in Europe and label him the messiah of football.

      2. ““Liverpool was designed to beat us”, the arrogance to think Liverpool was designed to beat us.”

        Since you know that Liverpool was designed to beat Pep from Klopps DNA, you should also know it was designed to beat Arsenal, as these two teams play in similar ways but with players of difference quality. (Maybe you should listen to Klopp, before spewing nonsense? Or even better, maybe you read what you just wrote without adequate self-reflection!)

        So you have some issue with people who appreciate how Wenger got us through this era? You think some somehow without a budget similar the big three you can compete for the EPL just like that, even when changes are taking place rapidly outside of the game? The arrogance my friend is yours, if you think you know more than Wenger. He has spoiled the lot of for a long time with top four and team more or less free of debt. He is restrained only by the owner, and if they can fork out a billion dollar loan, Wenger would had the quality he so desires.

        1. Hahaha!! You make me laugh JJ. No, I didn’t even mention what Wenger did for us 10 years ago. We can all appreciate him when he is gone. I simply don’t think that what he might or might not have done well for us a long time ago gives him a right to stay as long as he wants and ruin our club. Just because he was manager during the invincible season doesn’t give him any freebie today. This is football and you have to prove every season you are still up for up (ask Mourinho or Ranieri or Benitez). Wenger has shown for years now that he is not up for it. Wasting massive budgets and money on players he doesn’t like or rate and without any improvement.

          In sports, past track record is not a good argument for preferential treatment.

          And let’s not forget that Wenger got paid handsomely for the years he kept us in the top 4 of a not so competitive PL.

  5. “I have no doubt about Alexis’ mind and mentality, that people question”

    I think you need to ‘start’ doubting yourself with some self introspection and analysis of what you have achieved Arsene Wonga. you may then do the decent thing for Arsenal Football club

    1. So, you want him gone. We get it. (Tired argument, and absurd now, given what is at stake, so get with the program.)

      You are one of those who would be upset if Wenger sold Sanchez! (You have given the same argument that Wenger made a mistake, etc.)

      The only sensible thing to do now is support the team if you are fan.

      On paper, Arsenal has one of the best attacks in the EPL. Because of Wenger’s ability to sign players like Lacazette and Kolasanic, he might even have more than the best attack.

      1. On paper, what paper, toilet paper;)

        Games aren’t won on paper, even though the worlds of Wenger, Kroenke and Gazidis are full of he inked kind.

        Wenger is a relic, who cannot motivate, plan or implement an effective system to win things. Simples…

  6. Why you guys still talking about Wenger and his f.cked up footballing life? can we just forget about the old turkey and enjoy football this season?? either Arsenal plays well or not, I am going to enjoy football this season! I am not ready to die over Arsenal, Wenger and their stupidity… up gunners!

  7. hi all ! support arsenal !
    Gooners, don’t contribute to a miserable season.
    if you wanted a change you should have made it done before the season.
    not in the middle.

  8. Sanchez better buckle down arsenal is paying his wages wenger or not he needs to respect that besides if he performs badly or attitude problems he ruins his chances of signing for another club on better wages so for his sake he is 28 now and I don’t see man city laying a lot of dough on a player who is disruptive in the dressing room

  9. JJ Pawn, admire your passion ev n if I don’t agree with your points. Please tell me what is your success criteria for this season in concrete terms. You have said that we are in year one of a rebuild but still there should be some success criteria. You have said that we don’t have the financial muscle, so should not have expectations to win the league. And I think you also agree that the owner should go. You are a firm believer in wenger but let’s base on some actual results this year. So once again, what is your expectation with this manager and this team.

    1. AB, I do admire other fans able to have a rational discussion with facts with an understanding we all love this team, but not its owners for not providing the money needed to stay with the competition. We do not need to agree, but we do need incorporate some reality into the discussion.

      Top four will work for me. It is doable even now, if Sanchez stays on, or if one of the young things (Nelson? Iwobi?) goes on fire from the other other wing, in place of our silly Ox (bull in the china shop, when the need of the second was a shot on target or proper pass through).

      Then again, Sanchez might be swapped in January for the of the second year of the rebuild to face new realities. I hope PSG comes in for a player who is good enough for them (also qualifies to play for them) to win it all. Sanchez has two to three years max to win the CL, and he will likely want that move to PSG over Pep’s City. Some competition will drive the price higher than 20M. I hope Barca comes for him when things get sour with Messi aging.

      Now this is not what most Arsenal fans see: what I also want to see is Kolasanic tried in DM (Keene-Viera mold, but without the glaring facial expressions, and with a more than a touch of class, so much so that other sides will not figure out what is happening to their running lanes through middle). I think this player from the Balkans is special. How much we do not know yet. The boss is easing him in.

      Lacazette will do well with Sanchez and Ozil, and other player on the other wing. Ramsey? Iwobi? Nelson?

      Back three are deep worry. We do not have enough money to spend 50M for defender. Will the British boys play a position that they have excelled in? They are so fragile of mind… I am not sure. Maybe Mustafi will make the necessary commitment to English football? Can Sagna bring enough experience and belief back there? Can Per make one more season on those legs? (He should look at the work outs of Steeler linebacker James Harrison, who is devastating even at 39 years of age. Ditto for Koz.)

      I said more than enough, 4th is possible. Anything more is going to be a bonus given the monstrous rebuild at United and City, and even the hefty spending by Chelsea and Liverpool. I would keep Sanchez just to get there, unless there is a player rebellion, and Wengers sits him on the bench, and asks the rest to see if they can manage without their superstar…

  10. The point is why our team was not ready and we played lot of pre season matches.I just can’t understand Wenger’s tactice.

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