Arsene Wenger defended his decision to allow Alexis Sanchez to play the full 90 minutes for Arsenal against Doncaster Rovers in midweek.
The Chilean started and finished only his second match of the season thus far yesterday in the 1-0 win over the League One side, and fans had questioned the decision to force him to complete the match.
Alexis Sanchez is believed to be working his way back up to full fitness, and Arsene Wenger claims that he needs match practice in order to return to 100%,
He said; “For me he needs competition and that’s why I left him on the pitch. ”
When asked if he will play a part against the Baggies, Wenger added: “Yes, he should be ready now.”
Wenger went onto reveal his displeasure at his side’s performance following the opening, and only, goal of the match.
“I believe that we started well and in the first 25 minutes had a good pace in our game and good flow,” Wenger explained.
“But we started slowly and lost a bit of our cohesion and our speed in our passing and decreased our level and after that I think we did the job even if we had not do it in the style we want to play and the flair to kill the game off.”
The Chilean will be crucial in how our season pans out should he clear his head of distractions, and Sanchez does appear to be the type of player who is better off working back into fitness while being on the pitch.
The fact that Alexis came out of the match unscathed, and is expected to be ready to play once again on Monday, is more than enough to give Wenger slack on this one.
Do we agree that Sanchez is best of playing his way into match fitness? Does the forward look focussed on his football?
Pat J
Tbh I don’t think his heart is in it and I would prefer players who want to play. So for me ozil and Alex can sit on the bench
Alexis at 50% is better than most players in the EPL.
The truth is, he is not there physically yet and mentally, it will take a few more games. This sort of situation is normal for players in today’s game.
(It seems odd that this club’s fans question the manager at every turn. Sort of the new cult of more than those who actually know, thanks to PlayStation managers and social media.)