"El Niño Maravilla": Alexis Sanchez

Rumor is Manchester City might spend 30m on Alexis Sanchez, Juventos and Liverpool have also been rumored to want the winger.

ok, so been thinking about this for a while now and i suppose it ties in the most with alexis really! we've made a huge mistake with alexis!! not in buying him but in how theyve attempted to make him adapt to possession football when its not his thing!

when sanchez arrived at barca he was brim full of confidence having just been voted as serie a player of the year and being the star player at udinese before being bought by barca! this is the stuff of dreams for a 23yr old! but when he arrived the first thing that happened is we tried to change him!!

sanchez is a brilliant player! anybody who saw him play for udinese or for chile will tell you that! but we're trying in vain to bang a square peg into a round whole!

sanchez being a different style of player to the rest of the team isnt neccesarily a bad thing! and this is the main point im trying to get to!
just because he doesnt play possession football doesnt mean he cant be a great player for us!
the last few games have shown that at times, having something other than possession tika taka play in our arsenal is needed! a player who can play in a different way!

now for years that player has been messi! no more needs to be said about what he can and has done! but with teams now realising that by triple marking him and crowding the centre, its becoming increasingly harder and harder to make this work!

if we had nurtured sanchez's natural playing style and had a pacey and trickey winger who is bursting with confidence and is instructed to take on players and beat defenders at any oppurtunity, screw the possession, then we have another outlet!

i know instantly everyone will probably yell that tika taka has won us so much the last few years but at the same time, we must always adapt and change just as much as our opponents must adapt and change as well!

the case of sanchez is a sorry one now with him so shorn of confidence that he's incapable of making a decision or a play on the pitch for fear of screwing up and losing the ball, and it looks like he'll be offloaded in teh summer and labelled as just another flop! but it shouldnt have been so!

so a serious question for you all! if we sign Neymar in the summer or the following year, do you not think that if we try to bang him into that same round hole of tika taka that he isnt a natural to, wont we run the same high risk of him ending up like sanchez? or will we give him the freedom to play his own way and let him do whats natural to him when he has the ball?
if so, why wasnt this granted to alexis?

a very talented players confidence and quite possibly career has been broken the last 2 seasons now over what id call mismanagement!

How do you propose to have one player playing counter in a possession-based team?

And how do we counter against teams that are already organised when we win back the ball?

Barca don't play counter, simple as that. Once in a blue moon teams open up against us and then we kill them. Not really crying out for Alexis there...

I just don't think it was ever that wise buying a player that always operated in space.

BarcaKizz wrote:How do you propose to have one player playing counter in a possession-based team?

And how do we counter against teams that are already organised when we win back the ball?

Barca don't play counter, simple as that. Once in a blue moon teams open up against us and then we kill them. Not really crying out for Alexis there...

I just don't think it was ever that wise buying a player that always operated in space.

you're looking at it in black and white, the same problem that everyone associated with barcelona seems to have! this ridiculous idea that by not playing full on tika taka, it must be counter attack football! if you read my post you'd see i never once said having him play counter attack football! obviously cant happen if we have the ball 70% on average!

what i was saying is that instead of trying to turn him into a player that he's not, that we had instead nurtured the talent and skill set that he already had i.e. speed, skill, technique, ability to beat his man!
how many times have we seen barcelona pass it out to a player(be it pedro, cesc, iniesta,etc) on the wing only for them to look at a defender and then pass it back to the centre!
this is what im trying to get at! why didnt we encourage him to take on his defender from the word go in that case?! surely having another player in the forward line apart from messi who can beat defenders wouldve been a good thing! instead, it was as if he was under instructions not to!

nothing to do with counter football and everything to do with not getting the best out of a players talents!

Look, I think maybe I understand what you saying but you have to understand something which im not sure you are. I want to do this a little bit different, so bare with me.

When we all talk about how teams and players play, we have to be very careful not to be so general.

We all do it, even myself, but we say stuff like "player X plays safe too much" or "player Y doesnt do Z".

Its too simplistic to talk like this. Every single moment on the pitch, with the ball and without it, its just thousands of decisions, whoever makes the best decisions are the team which probably does usually does the best.

To be specific to Alexis.

You seem to be coming to the conclusion we not getting the best we can out of him, thats right.

But what really is the reason for that?

The real reason is, he is making decisions which are not helping him. Now, this isnt a totally bad thing..because some of those decisions could benefit the team.

The problem everyone has is, there arent enough of them.

Alexis taking on defenders is not anyone elses fault but his own, if he doesnt take on someone, thats a decision he made..nobody else.

Now, to make the right plays more often he needs to have the awareness to know when to do what.

The way we play is the way we play, I believe, but more importantly the club believe its the "right way" or the "best way" for us to play football. We can talk forever about if its right or not, but the fact is thats what we believe and it wont change.

On a side note, you mentioned recent game show we need something different. I disagee, the recent games shows us actually how much our style is the right one. Because we arent doing it right now, we are making a total mess of it and somehow have forgotten many of the principles.

Anyway, we have our style and for good reason. Now the way we play and the way teams defend us, there are many oppurtunites to dribble and still mantain what we are trying to do, keep the ball. It means we need to find the right time to dribble, otherwise we risk turning it over...of course we must dribble, we must take defenders out of the game, we must penetrate in different ways...this is not against the philosphy. Again, its just about when, where and how.

Thats dependant mostly on the player who has the ball.

With Alexis, and I would say you can put Tello, Pedro and Villa too in this. The time to dribble is the 1 v 1. When the ball gets played from center to wide, the opponants are not going to send many defenders out to stop that wide player, because the danger is Messi, Iniesta and co who want to penetrate the middle.

So they will allow time and space out wide. In these 1 v 1's, thats when players like Alexis have to dribble and take there men on. Far too often he settles for playing the ball back into the middle, thats on him, thats his decision and its wrong.

I think some posters here are too harsh on him, because I think sometimes he is 1 v 2, back up exists inside or behind....Alexis going at 2 defenders? He isnt Messi...he isnt even Iniesta...I dont think I ever want to see Alexis going at 2 defenders unless he has no choice but to.

Its the 1 v 1 where his chances are..but he too often settles for knocking it back middle, thats his problem. I think it hard to believe he is told not to attack in the 1 v 1...in fact, I dont believe it.

I think perhaps early on they told him not to over do it, perhaps he has learnt our philophy and doesnt want to be the one player to ruin it as a new guy...I dont know what it is, but he has almost no confidence and doesnt go for it.

Tello does...Villa does...so why doesnt he?

I cant answer for him, but I know someone without confidence when I see one.

The Franchise wrote:Look, I think maybe I understand what you saying but you have to understand something which im not sure you are. I want to do this a little bit different, so bare with me.

When we all talk about how teams and players play, we have to be very careful not to be so general.

We all do it, even myself, but we say stuff like "player X plays safe too much" or "player Y doesnt do Z".

Its too simplistic to talk like this. Every single moment on the pitch, with the ball and without it, its just thousands of decisions, whoever makes the best decisions are the team which probably does usually does the best.

To be specific to Alexis.

You seem to be coming to the conclusion we not getting the best we can out of him, thats right.

But what really is the reason for that?

The real reason is, he is making decisions which are not helping him. Now, this isnt a totally bad thing..because some of those decisions could benefit the team.

The problem everyone has is, there arent enough of them.

Alexis taking on defenders is not anyone elses fault but his own, if he doesnt take on someone, thats a decision he made..nobody else.

Now, to make the right plays more often he needs to have the awareness to know when to do what.

The way we play is the way we play, I believe, but more importantly the club believe its the "right way" or the "best way" for us to play football. We can talk forever about if its right or not, but the fact is thats what we believe and it wont change.

On a side note, you mentioned recent game show we need something different. I disagee, the recent games shows us actually how much our style is the right one. Because we arent doing it right now, we are making a total mess of it and somehow have forgotten many of the principles.

Anyway, we have our style and for good reason. Now the way we play and the way teams defend us, there are many oppurtunites to dribble and still mantain what we are trying to do, keep the ball. It means we need to find the right time to dribble, otherwise we risk turning it over...of course we must dribble, we must take defenders out of the game, we must penetrate in different ways...this is not against the philosphy. Again, its just about when, where and how.

Thats dependant mostly on the player who has the ball.

With Alexis, and I would say you can put Tello, Pedro and Villa too in this. The time to dribble is the 1 v 1. When the ball gets played from center to wide, the opponants are not going to send many defenders out to stop that wide player, because the danger is Messi, Iniesta and co who want to penetrate the middle.

So they will allow time and space out wide. In these 1 v 1's, thats when players like Alexis have to dribble and take there men on. Far too often he settles for playing the ball back into the middle, thats on him, thats his decision and its wrong.

I think some posters here are too harsh on him, because I think sometimes he is 1 v 2, back up exists inside or behind....Alexis going at 2 defenders? He isnt Messi...he isnt even Iniesta...I dont think I ever want to see Alexis going at 2 defenders unless he has no choice but to.

Its the 1 v 1 where his chances are..but he too often settles for knocking it back middle, thats his problem. I think it hard to believe he is told not to attack in the 1 v 1...in fact, I dont believe it.

I think perhaps early on they told him not to over do it, perhaps he has learnt our philophy and doesnt want to be the one player to ruin it as a new guy...I dont know what it is, but he has almost no confidence and doesnt go for it.

Tello does...Villa does...so why doesnt he?

I cant answer for him, but I know someone without confidence when I see one.

excellent post!!
i agree that with sanchez it is really is down to his decision making on the pitch, it is unquestionably poor at the moment and im going to be optimistic and say its down to his complete lack of confidence!

but what im really interested in knowing is why is it so bad! was he under full instructions to play our possession football entirely and instructed to not run the risk of losing the ball by attacking a defender or has that grown out of a lack of confidence stemming from what he himself perceives as an inability to fit in?!

i remember reading a story on this forum, not sure if it was true or not, about alexis' first training session where he embarked on a dribbling run which was followed by a comment from iniesta about how the best players were the ones who were able to find the pass rather than beating the man!

funnily enough one of the main moments i can always remember of sanchez's was in a game earlier this season( cant remember which one) but he received the ball in a position where he was pigeonholed between the end line and two defenders and he just reacted and got out of it!

the skills are still there, i just get the feeling that when watching him that he plays the way he feels he should play and this hesitation is leading to poor decision making!

and this leads to my main fear which is that in the summer there will be transfer activity with players leaving and players arriving, and that if a player like neymar, or indeed neymar himself, is signed, that a similiar instruction and pressure will be placed on them that will hamper their decision making and effectiveness on the pitch!

I'm not looking at it in black and white, I'm simply saying it wasn't ever going to be easy to encourage him to play the same because its not possible.

For Chile and Udinese, normally when he got the ball, he was about halfway up the pitch or in his own half. He was the player who would take it to the final third, normally quickly, and working for space. At Barca, he normally gets the ball already in the final third.

Interestingly, the one game where we said he played with such promise was his debut. This was a game where Madrid were well prepared and our players completely unprepared. They came out and played very attacking with a high line and didn't allow us to settle into our normal rhythm. Alexis was able to thrive under these conditions, and for good reason.

He also really enjoyed freedom at Udinese, and unless he plays false 9, he can't have that. I actually still reckon he'd do a decent job there.

I think you're pretty spot on with why its become so bad. Yes, he doesn't quite fit, but its really, really gotten him down now. I think its been a mixture of instructions and then also frustration at not being able to do what he used to. Now he's just completely lost faith in his decision-making.

Very good Dani and you picked up on this, because again in the Madrid game the other day he came back, won the ball and then dribbled nicely out of trouble. Pure instinct. Its when he gets the ball up front and he thinks. His decision-making is too slow and now he has no confidence in it, so normally he's already lost the initiative. Its one of the benefits of being trained in La Masia, the decision-making is natural.

The advice I'd give him now is to play more on instinct and play the ball faster. He's turned into someone who holds the ball up and thats not what I want to see from him. He really has nothing to lose, as he'll probably go unless he can really prove himself.

"el nino maravilla" shouldn't be in the thread title

That's something he hasn't earned, at least not with us

I just saw this now but, did Pepe intent to stamp on Alexis but changed his mind in the last second. Or am I looking to much into it because its Pepe??

Welcome to Juve

harhar11 wrote: I just saw this now but, did Pepe intent to stamp on Alexis, but changed his mind in the last second or am I looking to much into it because its Pepe??

Impossible to tell, only Pepe knows his true intention.

One thing I will say is, the bad rivalry that went on with Madrid some years ago..Pepe is trying to continue.

He is the only player out there (Arbeloa and Alonso also but per minute not in Pepe league) trying to make dirty plays, dive and fake injury. He is a trouble maker of the highest order so everything he does, you have to look at twice.

The Franchise wrote:
Impossible to tell, only Pepe knows his true intention.

One thing I will say is, the bad rivalry that went on with Madrid some years ago..Pepe is trying to continue.

He is the only player out there (Arbeloa and Alonso also but per minute not in Pepe league) trying to make dirty plays, dive and fake injury. He is a trouble maker of the highest order so everything he does, you have to look at twice.

Agreed! Atleast Ramos, who was after Pepe the dirties player in the Clasico's, changed somewhat now when we play against them. But the other 3...

Ramos probably changed because he is Spanish and Spain probably talked to him.
Pepe in the other hand is always out to make drama

What about Xabi Alonso and Arbeloa?

the two are replaceable for Spain
and Xabi isn't that dirty he does bad fouls but for some reason refs never give him a card, Arbeloa same case.
While Pique gets a yellow for every 1.7 foul

Nah, Arbeloa is dirty.



He does that kind of thigns pretty much every game..

Xabi Alonso isn't dirty, he just simply can't tackle. Thus fouls and sometimes feels the need to be a bit more agressive to do his job.

Arbeoloa? Yeah, quite a dirty player and should be replaced in Spain NT. Azpili, Montoya, Carvajal and Mallo are probably already better players actually.

BarcaKizz wrote:Xabi Alonso isn't dirty, he just simply can't tackle. Thus fouls and sometimes feels the need to be a bit more agressive to do his job.

Arbeoloa? Yeah, quite a dirty player and should be replaced in Spain NT. Azpili, Montoya, Carvajal and Mallo are probably already better players actually.

Agreed.

Alonso is not so much a dirty player but one who uses tactical fouls times and times again without shame.

Arbeloa on the other hand does the same, but is a dirty player at the same time and not half as good as Alonso. I personally loved watching him getting raped every time he faced Cristiano at Euros. You could just it in his face how nervous he was.

A nice performance. I feel obligated to mention it because he only ever gets talked about when he is doing wrong.

Score a fine goal, moved well, beat players, attacked in the 1 v 1 and made a nice assist.

Fantastic work ethic, presses and chases back...looks good when he has confidence.

He did some pointless step overs a couple a times, which I actually like because it at least bring him out his shell and he plays with some confidence for a change.

Couldnt help but notice when Messi comes on the level in which he defers to him, I want that out of his game.

Yeah he was good.

Bright even before the goal and full of confidence after the goal.

Good showing from him today.

He had an odd good day.

Happy for the once South American jewel. He still has A LOT to improve but it was a good showing and this time with end product.

Whether he stays at Barcelona for another season or goes to try his luck at another club, I don't think there's any culé who doesn't want Sánchez to do well. He hasn't been what Barça wanted him to be but nobody can say he didn't give it his all.

danyjr wrote:Happy for the once South American jewel. He still has A LOT to improve but it was a good showing and this time with end product.

Whether he stays at Barcelona for another season or goes to try his luck at another club, I don't think there's any culé who doesn't want Sánchez to do well. He hasn't been what Barça wanted him to be but nobody can say he didn't give it his all.

This is true. I would like to see some other players giv in the effort he is giving. I think he is probably one of the most hard working players I have seen recently.

He played well on his short cameo against milan. Assisted the 4th goal yet no praise.. He's playing better

He's done more than Pedro recently, I'm not going to lie. Though, that game where he missed sitters and fell all over the place was pretty bad lol.