Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez Rage Carries One Powerful Reminder

Arsenal subbed off Alexis Sanchez against Swansea and by now, everyone knows what happened. But we must remember one big thing.

Arsenal may not have anticipated just how much of a warrior Alexis was when they got him. At Barcelona, he was not always a guaranteed start and perhaps that drained a bit of the ferocity that we see of him in North London.

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But now that he is here and our star man, he wants to play every single minute of every single match, no exceptions.

That snapped back at Arsenal a bit last year when we first saw his sub rage. It led to numerous transfer rumors and baseless chatter that had no fact in it. It was based purely off of a passionate reaction to not being able to play anymore.

I’ll admit, I was a bit distracted by Alexis’s reaction when he was taken off against Swansea. But the one thing I have to remember – that we all have to remember – is that this frustration was not directed at anyone. It was, plain and simple, just a knee jerk reaction to not being able to be on the pitch again for another week.

They always say that Alexis is like a kid on the playground, well, what happens when you tell that kid it’s time to come inside? A similar reaction, I’m sure.

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Arsene Wenger is absolutely right to say that Alexis’s reaction was not a problem. It would be a problem if he came off and accosted Arsene Wenger, spit on Giroud and stormed down the tunnel. But his frustrations were all contained to his own area. Maybe I would have preferred him to wish Danny Welbeck well, but these are nit-picky points.

The point is that passion has no off switch. Alexis is probably the most passionate player I have ever seen and it’s unfortunate that it can sometimes be misrepresented like what we saw, with him sitting by himself, pouting on the bench.

But that is a byproduct of his style and in the end, it’s only going to make him go harder the next time he takes the pitch. Knowing that he is not guaranteed 90+ minutes may mean that he understands that maybe he will have to do all he wants to do in 80 minutes.

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While Alexis doesn’t necessarily need more motivation, I’m not complaining that Wenger may damn well have found a way to give him some.