Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez deserves Alexandre Lacazette treatment

In case you haven’t heard, Alexis Sanchez was terrible for Arsenal against Manchester City, and it’s time to be honest about it – he’s a liability.

Arsenal’s performance against Manchester City wasn’t as bad as the scoreline – or the media – suggests. The Gunners created nearly as many chances and we don’t know what might have happened had that offside been called.

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But one thing we do know is that Alexis Sanchez was terrible. Horrible. He gave the ball away 15 times in the first half and only completed two more passes than Ederson. He was trying way too hard to force his will onto the game rather than getting into the flow with his team mates and grinding it out.

In the end, I would argue that Alexis actually did more harm than good. And in a big game like it was, that is completely unacceptable.

GQ UK is of the opinion that Alexis should therefore be dropped and I 100%, completely, whole-heatedly agree with them. When a player, no matter their stature or pay rate or level of stardom, costs the team more than he actually gives them, it’s time for a change.

Alexis had already been struggling up until this point, and yet his struggling self forced not-struggling and team high-scorer Alexandre Lacazette to the bench. Which, aside from being completely unfair, is also completely stupid.

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Now the same thing that wrongly happened to Lacazette needs to rightly happen to Alexis Sanchez. When we come back from international break, the Chilean should not be on that pitch from the opening whistle. If Olivier Giroud and Jack Wilshere have to earn their place, then so does Alexis.

I would even say that Mesut Ozil should be starting ahead of Alexis, because at least Ozil has shown up at times this season, whereas his Chilean counterpart has been a struggling mess.

I can’t help but think that Wenger keeps starting him in an attempt to convince him to stay, but all it’s doing is drilling him into the ground and, most likely, convincing him that he should indeed leave. If you want to convince him to stay, bench him, make him earn his spot back and, if that can actually happen, then he’s back in good form and enjoying his time.

And that’s the best chance you’ve got.

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There’s no point in kidding ourselves and thinking that things will change just because these guys have talent. You need more than talent to be successful in a team sport.