Arsene Wenger says that the constant media coverage of Alexis Sanchez is ‘unbelievable’, despite the fact it’s quite believable indeed.
The Chilean is almost into the final 6 months of his contract, and does not look likely to sign a new one. As such, there’s constant speculation about him, his future, and his motivations.
However, the Arsenal manager seems to believe this is somewhat strange, saying, “When he plays well it’s a problem.
“When is it not a problem? It’s unbelievable. You judge a player on whether he played well or not and you comment on it after that.
“I am not a psychologist to know what is in his head, if he is short-term or long-term. You turn up to play football, that’s it.
“After that you judge, did he play well or not well.”
He definitely played well on Thursday when his two goals helped us to a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace, and it would be good if he could do something similar against West Brom tomorrow.
The same people who complain about us playing sideways are usually the same people who criticise Alexis for not playing it safe.
He’s a percentage player and we’ll certainly miss his unpredictability when he’s gone.
Fuck that, he loses the ball 30x a game in a team thats probe to counter attacks. Thats not good enough. He didnt use to lose it that much before and he should sharpen up. Especially the way he barrates his teammates when things go pear shaped. He has a directly negative influence sometimes. Not seeing he is a bad player. But people are blind to his deficinies effect on the team as a whole, because he shows up with a couple of goals. Without his “tax” the team could be better off. Maybe we would have held on to… Read more »
You speak of his flaws(loss of possession) as if we are Barcelona (a team built to dominate by keeping the ball). When we don’t have a plan with or without the ball. So with no plan he does what comes natural and that the midfield can’t deal with a lost ball in the final third is NOT his problem, since he is no longer at barca where it would have a bigger impact, as they have a distinct way of playing. I’m not saying Alexis is in form, he just does not have the platform on wich to flourish. And… Read more »
I won’t miss his reluctance to be at the club.
I won’t miss his reluctance either. But at the same time don’t blame him, if I had his ability I’d want as the bare minimum to challenge for league titles.
The guy is absolutely class, but let’s not start making excuses for his clear flaws.
This sage will continue.. atleast for 6 more months! Frankly, it is getting boring though from both Wenger and Media’s side.
It’s been boring for a long time already
Wenger would be a terrible psychologist.
“Tell me about your mother”
“Well, I suppose she was never really there for me”
“Maybe she was lacking a little sharpness”
“Do you think I’ll be able to get over all this?”
“I do not see it”
And I’m no Wenger psychologist. Damn I can’t wait to read wengers autobiography.
People say this is if his bio will be a completely balanced and objective account of whatever really happened.
It will be his version of events. It WILL be insightful, but may not always be the objective truth.
Another example of Arsene not understanding or pretending not to understand how modern football works.
We are going to have stories about Alexis everyday until the day he goes, Arsene pleading ignorance with Alexis & the board not making a decision about his future & sitting with their hands behind their backs is only future destabilising us.
We need proper leadership at the moment, not weak ignorance. You are the Manager Arsene, do you job and manage.
All he was doing is showing frustration at the constant media attention on the subject when it comes to AFC – lot’s of other things to talk about too. Especially since it’s a given – Alexis is leaving, most likely at the end of the season. Of course it is ‘believable’ the media is going to go on about it, but surprising that blogs and several on here find the managers frustration a point to bring up. Having said that, I get how many people are unhappy with Wenger, so another few sentences he said to parse over and take… Read more »
Uh… what do you want him to do, have a nice chat with Daily Mail journos about how he thinks Alexis feels today and what he’s planning to say to him at training tonight?
If you think that’s “do you job” you’re probably looking for a reality TV show, not football.
No, I want to know why he can’t convince Alexis or Ozil to stay, why he has having talks with Jack about a new contract less than 24 hours before he can negotiate with other teams.
I want to know why after all these years why we still can’t defend.
I want to know if players like Welbeck & Ramsey who have less than 18 months on their deals have been spoken to about new contracts.
In short I want to know that he’s doing his job, because it doesn’t look like it at the moment.
Then, go ask him that. Media ask the same dumb shit, over and over…ad nauseam….Manager gives same round-about answers….finally loses his cool about it and makes a statement out of frustration….media reports…blogs across the world jump on the bandwagon….comment section in an uproar…rinse, repeat. I guess everyone wants clicks/readers/viewers, makes sense.
Now I’ll be told – well we should get a new manager….well to those people, you may be right. At least there will be something new for us to all lose our shit over.
But he knows one or two about mental strength and fatigue though.
To be fair. I have seen way too many non story’s this week linking us to players with out any real quotes. One hundred and ten story’s talking about Sanchez and the only quote is Henry’s. The media is a huge problem. Bellerin posted a pic of the team being United with Sanchez, media choose to ignore and make up more rubbish. The media have so much blame to take
Ideal situation still
Sanchez is leaving in the summer and joining a rival.
Simple as a that.
Don’t give a shit about any news related to him. Whatever happens, he is leaving. There are a hundred different things to worry about then a pretty well paid mercenary.
Mercenary? Perhaps you should be more grateful. Where would Arsenal be without all his goals and assists in recent years? It is Wenger that is the tactical dunce who has failed to build a team worthy of his talent. If you were Sanchez, you’d leave, as would any sensible player – he couldn’t have done much more to help propel this team forward. Ozil will leave too, if he has any sense.
That would imply that Lacazette has no sense, since he joined a team with a tactical dunce as manager. With a team that is pretty much there, or thereabouts with the clubs 2-6 in the table – Conte, Klopp, Pochettino – all dunces too? Alexis should be grateful he got to play for AFC while getting paid well and having the adoration of the fans. I’m happy I got to see him play for us, but doesn’t matter how talented a player he is if we can’t afford the massive pay packet he wants – good luck to him.
I don’t think he would have been a regular starter with any of the other clubs that were interested. I don’t see him playing with the likes of kane or morata in the bench. Don’t get me wrong I like laca but I don’t think he is as good, not yet at least
You’re making a massive assumption there that Alexis is leaving because of money. I would very strongly believe that isn’t the case.
I would say that it makes Lacazette a mercenary and here for the cash because dispite Wenger’s constant pleading of poverty there’s only about 6 or 7 teams in the world who pay more than us.
Neither Sanchez or Özil are leaving for money, proper players don’t like to suffer the constant humiliations we do
John C, you are on these boards making points based on the fact you despise Wenger. How you view players, any game we play (win, lose or draw) – revolves around arguments to ‘prove’ Wenger is the worst manager out there. So why bother debating you – fine, Lacazette is a mercenary and Sanzhez and Ozil and proper players.
Also, those 6 or 7 teams in the world….yeah, think they can only afford about 20 quid and a packet of crisps extra a week compared to us.
I’m only using your logic to make a point. Lacazette has already publicly stated this seasons aim was to qualify for the champions league, sorry but that doesn’t indicate an ambitions player to me. I actually like Lacazette and can’t believe it took so long to get him. Ever occurred to you the reason we can’t fully compete with those very few clubs above us is because we hemorage literally hundreds of thousands of pounds a week on wages to nonplaying squad players like Walcott and Debuchy? If we were really trying to compete and keep Sanchez and Özil we… Read more »
You weren’t using my logic. You were twisting it to make a circular argument that makes zero sense. You need to stop making things up that are obviously false. You do it in reply to a lot of posters – spin and twist. If you do not understand my reply to the OP, there is nothing more I can do about it. It seems your life mission to convince others we should all bitch and moan as much as you do for as long as Wenger is with us. You said it wasn’t about the money: “Neither Sanchez or Özil… Read more »
It made perfect sense, Lacazette isn’t a dunce because he’s here for the money, the kind of money only very few teams could afford. I didn’t blame Wenger, that’s your issue. The reason we pay Walcott £100,000+ a week and don’t play him may have absolutely nothing to do with him. I’m merely pointing out you can’t plead poverty whilst similtaniously paying nonplaying members of staff weekly wages that only the top teams can afford to pay. And I don’t suggest we pay Sanchez and Özil Walcott wages, I suggest we use Walcott and Debuchy’s wages on better players to… Read more »
This same Wenger getting all the sticks got Alexis out from Barcelona when he was not as relevant And same with Ozil. At the time, many wondered why go for players who couldn’t hold down a regular place in their clubs. Today, nobody wants to give Wenger credit for improving these guys. When Ozil struggled and almost everyone complained, Same Wenger stayed positive. Are we not seeing betrayal here? He stand by his players come what may. He knows what a secret is and to protect his players irrespective. Does this mean he does not berate them when needed? He… Read more »
From the maker of “What is a Director of Football”..we present..” I’m NOT a Sanchez whisperer”…out now.
No you’re not. You are a coach. Coach you must. Lets start with defense or thereabouts.
This is a ball. You kick it. It must not go between these two sticks guarded by this guy in a helmet. He’s in our team. Go kick it to the other end.
2 best players about to leave. No sign of defensive improvement or learning from past mistakes. A manager increasingly making statements I’m sure he genuinely believes and which he hopes give him an air of all knowing, sagacity but which actually are increasingly gnomic and frankly absurd.
The situation continues to be ideal.
He wants to win the Premiership, that’s why he’s leaving. It’s that simple. Like RVP and Cesc great players want to win things and as we all know, we’re not set up to win the EPL. Until that changes players will not want to fritter away their careers at Arsenal going for 4th spot.
Does anyone really believe he has given or will give his all to the team? He is definitely leaving and if he doesn’t sign with a new team in January…. Oh hell, I haven’t liked him for the last two years. I don’t care about the goals he scored last year, he is not a team player, he is a selfish player, who only cares about the goals HE scores. One of the things the team lacks is team cohesiveness, and his attitude is a minus. Let’s get rid of him and look to start bringing in team players we… Read more »
is there a list somewhere of all players out of a contract in the PL this summer. Be interesting to see how Arsenal compare, and if this is a larger trend.