We have all seen how Alexis Sanchez can look totally knackered at the end of a game, and then three days later yet again run around like he has had a month’s rest in the Caribean, and it has not escaped Arsene Wenger’s attention either. “When he does something he does it 100 per cent,” Le Prof said.
“So he finishes and you think, ‘He’s dead now.’ But then he recovers and gives 100 per cent again, so you always see signs of exhaustion, but it’s not because two days later he’s fine.”
“His style is very explosive and a very committed style,”
“Vardy is a bit similar. They go when they go. They are like the lion, he has to catch the animal in the first 200 metres. If he doesn’t get there, after he’s dead.
“They are these kind of killers. When they go, it is to kill and after they have to stop.”
But yet again, Alexis has ended a game with a worry about his hamstring, and it is becoming such a regular thing now that Wenger must seriously consider giving our duracell bunny a chance for it to heal. “I will have to assess that a bit later,” he said.
“It might not be the best moment to rest Alexis, but I don’t know. He had a little hamstring alarm, but we will see how he recovers from that
“I take information, especially from medical people who know him and treat him everyday, and after that we will look at his overall recovery as well.”
Although we have had lots of scares, Wenger denies that our ‘killer lion’ has actually needed to take treatment yet this season. “No, he’s not been injured. We come back to that problem and the more you are injured, the more there is a chance to be injured again.
“That’s where we come back to top-level sportsmen.
“That kind of mixture of flexibility, sense of how far can you go with the pushing, that sensitivity to how much and as well when you have to ease off on your bodyweight.
That’s linked with co-ordination and they get less injured.
“His resistance is remarkable. What is also remarkable is that he goes to South America, he comes back Thursday night and on Saturday he can play without a problem, even if he’s jet-lagged. He would have been a perfect tennis player.
“These are not players who have the traditional academic education that we give now to the players at 15 or 16. They have a physio every day. They are more street players, not pampered.”
Let’s be honest, we don’t really want to see Arsenal line up without our star man, but the season is long, and just about evey other player has had a rest in some form or other. Is it Sanchez’s turn to take a breather this weekend?
Arsene always like to drive his luck to the very end. Few days ago we couldn’t have rested Sanchez because of injuries but now that Ramsey is back and so will be Ox, Sanchez can be rested for the Norwich game. It’s basically now or never to rest him because the schedule is only going to get more busy and as the season progresses every match is more imp. Than the previous one.
Ps- we might very well be without Alexis in some part of the season, so lets give him a rest and see how the team plays without him.
But wenger said: REST MAKE ALEXIS TIRED.
Err that was Wenger’s attempt at humour!
And that was muda’s attempt at humour !
Rest him please… don’t give me all that Duracell crap.. Duracell doesn’t stay on forever does it?
Sanchez is a beast i know but we need to save him from himself..am not scared he might get injured or drop form, am scared he’s gonna devour himself instead of his prey.
Son sit this one out, we trust you and believe in you but we are all worried about you, even if you wont rest for two match,just sit this one and you’ll see the fans you’re fighting for heave a sigh of relief. i’m repeating we’re going into these Dec where we most make sure we drop no point..I said so once before the west brom game that Le Coq should be rested and Flamini played but people here were saying he needs no rest cause he didn’t participate during the international break.. now where is he? getting a by force rest after being injured. We need Sanchez later,we can do this one without him please. save him from himself
The boys should go into this one cautiously, I have watched a few Norwich games this season including there recent lose at Chelsea and they play some pretty neat football. They are quick in attack and have good fullbacks who can cross a deadly ball for the battling Mbokani or Jerome. Mert and Kos have to be aware at all times and Bellarine and Monereal have to cut out the crosses.
Even Chelsea had a hard time against them. We can make it though, with or without Alexis (assuming Ox can be ready by then to fill in his spot).
Must win game as always, we cant drop anymore points at this period with all the teams around us gaining some form bar a few slip ups.
If they play neat football then we should be fine I guess. We always have the best games when we play against team doing a neat game too.
Tell that to Swansea or Southampton in the past. Anyway the point is the league is so unpredictable, you cant base your next game on past performance, you will get chewed up and call it another accident.
Surely it would be negligent for Arsene to play Alexis in the Norwich game and risk loosing him for a lager part of the season to a hamstring injury. A good point was made in a journo’ that he could give Alexis the next 2 games off. A total 14 day break, then have him back for the Champions League game and the Xmas period refreshed.
I think, however, that Campbell has also been struggeling with a niggle, and I know he is not everyone’s cup of tea here (please remember v WBA he had just played a World Cup qualifier in Panama on Wednesday GMT and would haveonly arrived back in wee hours on Friday) that could also be playing on Wenger’s mind.
Rest Alexis? Hell no. He is the kinda guy that will tell you “I will get enough rest when I die”. Even if you try to rest him, d next thing you will see him running up a mountain and down. He is not like Fabregas that posts a pic of his bloodied toe, he is a street footballer and to those that don’t understand that, you never will. On the streets a bloodied toe is nothing, you just tie it will a piece of cloth and off u go. Alexis dreamed of this moment all his life while on the streets of Chile, and in d dream there was no moments rest. Wenger even said it that rest actually makes him tired, so wingers talk about resting Alexis is pure mind games and Wenger is successfully deflecting attention from the team. Nice Wenger. COYG
Honestly baby please, it’s not for us to say.
I think it depends on Wenger and the fitness team. I don’t even think Alexis has a right to say because he always wants to play. He would play in extreme pain and limping. That’s why I love Alexis because he is a true warrior. This summer while on holiday he showed photos of him working out.
To be honest, he looked pretty good against Dinamo and West Bromwich.
But again I’m hoping the fitness team and Wenger will make the right decision
This might sound nuts but I would rest him and play Ozill up top. OX is back Rambo is back and for one game yeah do it. SC could do with a rest to. Think we should start the game so fast Nick 3 goles then sit back park the bus. Can’t see why Gabriel can’t play DM for a game please not chambers sorry he needs to go out on loan and take Carl back. Why he is still at West Ham I don’t no.
Could not agree more with the conclusion of this article. Particularly when it comes to hamstrings. They are very tricky injuries to get off permanently and once you have a bad one it recurs quicker. Let’s not sacrifice our best players by making them play an unreasonable amount of games, even if we are thin as a squad at the moment.
It is still better to rest Sanchez (Ozil) for one game here and there than to lose him or them for 3-5 weeks.
Also in the greater picture I would take a win over Olympiacos vs this weekend. Playing Thursday nights in Europe, IMO, will hurt our PL challenge more than a draw this weekend because we were careful by resting Sanchez.