Arsenal: This is where Alexis Sanchez shone

Arsenal had little off-the-cuff, out-of-structure creativity in Wednesday night’s loss to Wolves. That is where Alexis Sanchez shone. He is sorely missed.

It ended sourly for Arsenal and Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean stomped his way out of the Emirates, and suffered a villain’s exit as a result, rather than the gracious, praising departures that many lesser players enjoyed that same season.

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Because of the rift between fan and player, and presumably from his body language, between player and player and player and manager, the brilliance of Alexis is easily overshadowed by the egregiousness of his character. He may have worked incessantly hard on the pitch, but he himself was incessantly hard work off of it. And by the end of his time in north London, his time to leave had come.

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Nevertheless, the impact that he had on matches during his prime run was undeniable. Capable of magic out of nothing, Sanchez was unlike any other player in the squad. His ankle-breaking dribbling style, his razor-sharp movement and cat-like balance and agility, allied with a surprising bulldozing power made him extremely difficult to tackle. He pressed like a rat, darting from defender to defender, he scored goals consistently, and his link-up play with Mesut Ozil in particular was the pinnacle of Arsenal football at that time.

Sanchez’s most valuable skill, however, was his ability to create and score out of structure. When the combination play was not quite as slick as usual, when opponents had seemingly figured out Arsenal’s plans, when ideas were lacking and ingenuity was needed, it was often Sanchez who provided the spark. Only he could burst past a defender, shimmy and shake his way past another and whip a shot into the far corner.

In the same January window that he departed, Theo Walcott, another speedy, direct, goalscoring winger also left the club, though on much more pleasant terms. And six months earlier, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the other primary dribbler in the team with the ability to beat a defender ostensibly at will, had already exited, though Arsenal did recoup a decent fee in return.

That left the club with little to catalyse the attack. The continued creativity of Mesut Ozil still remained, and the goal-poaching of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had arrived, ushering in a new style, but there was no player who could produce the individual moments that Sanchez could, especially not with his astounding regularity.

If you needed proof of the lack of purpose and spark in the Gunners’ attack, re-watch Wednesday night’s harrowing loss to Wolves. Plenty of pretty passing. Over 70% possession. But no cutting edge to speak of, no creativity, no catalyst. No Alexis Sanchez-type figure to produce something from nothing.

Alexis Sanchez needed to leave Arsenal. There will be no arguments here. But players of his ilk are essential to successful teams, and in his leaving, Unai Emery was left with no one to replace him. Now, almost 18 months later, that same problem presides.