Arsenal: Alexis syndrome can solidify Aaron Ramsey as Super Rambo

Arsenal may find a certain, obscure benefit from Alexis Sanchez’s failings, as it might actually have positive repercussions on a teammate.

Arsenal saw the worst of Alexis Sanchez against Manchester City, and I find that the most troubling because of what normally happens when the Chilean struggles. He relapses into his earlier years at the club, when “Alexis syndrome” overcame him.

I refer to Alexis syndrome as the feeling that only you can accomplish something, and that no one else around you is capable. Alexis has carried Arsenal in the past and it led to a continuation of the syndrome such that, even when it wasn’t needed, he was still trying way too hard.

It’s the feeling that you have to be the hero. And again, sometimes that leads to some heroics, and to whoever has the syndrome actually being a hero.

That said, there is another positive that I think can come from Alexis spiraling down the rabbit hole of inadequacy. I think that it will lock Aaron Ramsey into Super Rambo mode.

For starters, in case you haven’t noticed, Alexis and Ramsey don’t exactly see eye to eye and that comes down to how similar they both are. Both want to be the center of attention. Both want to be the hero.

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That is inevitably going to lead to clashing, and clash they have. Alexis willfully passes up giving the ball to the Welshman and more times than not, failed attacks lead to them throwing their arms up in disgust at each other.

So how does this all work out? Well, despite the feud, they both play on the same team and it would be silly to think that they don’t get motivated by each other’s work ethic, as they have two of the best in the league.

Therefore, with Ramsey seeing, and knowing full well, how much his Chilean counterpart is struggling, he will try even harder to step up and be enough amazingness for the two of them.

If this sounds like a potential for Ramsey to catch Alexis syndrome, I would say it is, but I don’t worry about it as much, because unlike Alexis, Ramsey has had a steady build up into his good form and he is undoubtedly one of our best performers on the year. I’d even wager that he is our most effective attacker on the year, by considerable margins.

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Ramsey is already doing so much for the attack, but if he can kick it up one more gear, as he is capable of doing, then maybe we can eek some use out of Alexis’s plummet in the sense of how it empowers other team mates to perform even better.

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