Are Arsenal a one-man team? by DN
I guess Arsenal were called a one-man team in the days of Thierry Henry, or when Robin Van Persie was scoring goals for fun, but is it true that we rely on Alexis Sanchez now so much that if he is not in the team we think we have every chance of losing?
Arsene Wenger obviously thinks that the Chilean is talismanic and unbreakable, or why would he have played him in our opening game of the season as a sub (when we were losing to West Ham), when he had already told the world that Sanchez would miss the first four games of the season? And start him in the second game without even considering if he was fit or not.
Is he as important to Arsenal as Messi is to Barcelona, or Ronaldo is to Real Madrid? We have already learned today that the Chile manager would rather start an injured Alexis against Brazil than leave him on the bench, so I am guessing that even his team-mates miss his influence if he’s not on the field?
This is beginning to look to me like Arsenal are going to be scared of teams if we don’t have Sanchez in the starting line-up, and conversely that our opponents are going to feel more confident if he is not named in the team sheet before the game?
Okay, so if he gets injured, what is the worst that could happen? Cazorla could play on the left, Giroud in the middle, and Walcott on the right. With Mesut Ozil behind them in the diamond. Surely we should feel more than confident with that line-up, but I’ve just got this sneaky feeling that we will NOT feel we are so superior all of a sudden, and could lose without Sanchez on the pitch.
Does anyone else have these reservations? I am seriously worried that Alexis will come back from South America with a worse groin strain than when he left, and suddenly Watford could become a hard team to beat if he doesn’t play, simply because of our reliance on the Chilean too much.
Are we really becoming a one-man team or am I becoming paranoid?
Darren