Premier League
Time For Alexis Sanchez To Deliver At Manchester United
Manchester, England – When Alexis Sanchez signed for Manchester United in January there was much excitement amongst the United fans. Not only had they signed one of the best attackers in the Premier League, they also beat off their rivals Manchester City to his signature.
However, nine months into his United career that excitement is slowly dwindling. In 15 Premier League starts for the Red Devils he has scored just two goals and has just four assists.
Compared to his last full season at Arsenal, Sanchez scored 24 goals in 38 Premier League with 10 assists. It is not just the lack of goals and assists that has drawn criticism but it is also his performances.
Against Crystal Palace in March he gave the ball away an incredible 19 times in the first half alone. For the amount of money that United paid for him and are paying him they should expect a better return from such a top quality player.
Wake Up Call
The pressure for Sanchez to deliver is increasing each week. The fact that he didn’t start against Tottenham at Old Trafford a few weeks ago should signal as a wake up call. It was Manchester United’s biggest game of the season so far and the benching of Sanchez shows how disappointed Jose Mourinho is at his performances.
With Jesse Lingard in good form and the recent performance from Marcus Rashford for England against Spain, his place in the starting 11 is no longer guaranteed. Of course there will be some that will say United’s style of play under Mourinho doesn’t suit Sanchez.
However, Sanchez is a workhorse who isn’t scared to get involved in the defensive side of play as well. Even though he is playing more wide than he did at Arsenal, he should be providing more assists than he has done so far.
There have been a number of games where Sanchez appears in effective. In particular against Brighton where his influence on the game was non existent. This is not something you would expect from such a top quality player.
United Career Going Same Way as Di Maria and Falcao
It still may be early days for Sanchez at United but there is concerns that he could end up like Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao. Both came to United with big reputations and huge excitement from the United fans.
However, both left after just one season at Old Trafford. Di Maria got off to a good start scoring a brilliant goal against Leicester and looked impressive. But his performances slowly diminished, partly due to Louis Van Gaal’s tactics.
Meanwhile Falcao’s United career never took off. This despite him being one of the most feared strikers in Europe. Both were expensive flops for the Old Trafford side and Alexis Sanchez could soon be joining them.
There is more pressure and scrutiny playing for Manchester United than there is at Arsenal. Not only that there is more expectation which players have to handle. Having played for Barcelona you would think Alexis Sanchez would be able to cope with that.
However, so far it doesn’t appear that way. If he doesn’t perform soon his United career could soon be over.
Photo credit to Donald Trump via Flickr
