Arsenal: ‘Drama Queen’ Alexis Sanchez Needs To Buck His Ideas Up

Martin Keown has described Alexis Sanchez as a ‘drama queen’ after his antics in Arsenal’s win over Leicester City. The Chilean needs to buck his ideas up.

The character of players is an issue that, in modern football, is becoming a more and more prominent and influential topic of discussion. As they become increasingly willing to dive under the lightest contact; as they continue to hound referees, no matter the decision; as they continue to show no loyalty to their clubs or their fans, Arsenal and many other teams must find and develop players of character, as well as quality.

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That is why Alexis Sanchez has been such a remarkable acquisition for the North London side. Not only is a terrific player, capable of scoring goals, creating chances and driving the team forward, but he is also a man of exemplary character. Or so we thought.

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In his column for the Daily Mail, Martin Keown showed his disgust at the actions of the Chilean late in the win over Leicester City, describing Sanchez as a ‘drama queen’, suggesting that such sort of behaviour has worryingly seeped into his game during his three years at the Emirates:

"“It was very embarrassing. Sanchez is becoming a bit of a drama queen — he seems to be making a lot out of everything at the moment. There is a danger that he is being overindulged at Arsenal with everyone clamouring for his signature. He has become a different animal and the sort of behaviour we saw last night has crept into his game.”"

The incident that Keown is referring to takes place during the dying embers of the game. Christian Fuchs is wanting to take a long throw-in in pursuit of a late equaliser. To try and prevent him from doing so, Sanchez stands close by, and then times his jump as Fuchs winds up to throw, putting off the Leicester defender, who then recoils and sets up to throw once more.

This happened two or three times, before Fuchs grew frustrated with Sanchez, and simply threw the ball at the Arsenal star, striking him, clearly, in the shoulder. Then, doing his best impression of Rivaldo, Sanchez, in an utterly deceitful and dramatic manner, falls to the floor, grasping his face, in an attempt to coerce the referee into sending Fuchs off. He was subsequently booked for his troubles and has been heavily criticised in the aftermath.

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The key issue that I take with his behaviour is that Sanchez’s performance did not make up for such petulant actions. It is possible to overlook issues when production follows. But for Sanchez, he has been poor for some time now. He needs to buck his ideas up, and fast.