Alexis Sanchez

[Flavia]

So the jugadorazo didn't show up (jk)

But I imagine he will start against psg, even if Tello was better today.

 

[ceefoo]

Alexis repeatedly just passes it back to Dani or centrally and never took his man on into the box.

Being shy in front of goal is one thing but I have been searching to comprehend what happened to the ferocious attacking player from Udinese who relished taking on defenders with zeal...He's like a neutered puppy

I believe Alexis is guilty overthinking his role, instead of trusting his instincts and playing his natural game. It appears that he is so concerned with obeying team instructions and not upsetting his teammates that he is not relaxed and free to express himself. This could partly be due to the manager not being around to aid him in this crisis of confidence.

It could just simply be a case of Tito saying to Alexis; Go and play your natural game and enjoy yourself, and don't be afraid to fail.

 

[darthvader7888]

I can see his workrate being useful against PSG since the starting FB duo in the first leg will be Montoya/Alves unless Alba returns (So Alexis' workrate can be useful to cover for Alves).

In the second leg though, I'd like to see a FB pairing of Alba/Montoya and Tello at RW. Especially if we're protecting an aggregate lead from the first leg.

 

[ZenI]

He just gives me such an headache. 1 good game, than 3 bad ones, than 2 OK games, than 1 great, an than he sucks for 3 games.
Thing is, he always works hard, no doubt. He works for the team, gives a lot of assists and does not get disposed of the ball easy. We can clearly see that he got what it takes when he gets his shit together - but he clearly is not a goal scoring machine, neither is he a dribbling machine. I don't know what to make of his performances sometime, just confusing tbh.

 

[DennyCrane]

He wasn't bad but I'm not really understanding what his purpose is on that wing...Tello takes his man on, works that edge whereas Alexis repeatedly just passes it back to Dani or centrally and never took his man on into the box

In a false-9 system in general, the wingers mainly provide options to pass to both in width and depth and they tie the opponents fullbacks and, if positioned right or in a later stage of the attack, the centrebacks (e.g. in the case of a 'overloaded' fullback).

Barcas' attack is asymmetrical in that sense. Both wingers have differing tasks. While usually one of the wingers tries to take on defenders one-on-one, hugs the touchline and generally has a more 'free' role, the other winger, usually our right winger, has more of a support role to the false nine, which is absolutely mandatory in this system.
It's vital to the system that the support winger keeps the defense line deep with his movement:
Hence, Alexis needs to work the entire horizontal. This way, he keeps the defense line sitting deep and is always in a position to make a vertical run behind the defense. The defense needs to cover him, which either creates a gap or at least some space.

So much for the theory. In large part, the tasks of the supportive winger are positioning, runs and off-the-ball movement. Hence, the important attributes such a player has to have are positional-awareness, acceleration and pace which Alexis all has, maybe even more than Pedro.
The natural downside (if one wants to call it that) of this tactic is that the support winger at times looks disconnected and not an active part of an attack move, which we've seen both with Pedro and Alexis this season, due to their positioning and their tactical role.

There's no doubt Alexis has to work on himself in the 'individual department', but he's doing what he's supposed to do (in the tactical sense) and he does it quite well.

 

[Stric]

He just gives me such an headache. 1 good game, than 3 bad ones, than 2 OK games, than 1 great, an than he sucks for 3 games.
Thing is, he always works hard, no doubt. He works for the team, gives a lot of assists and does not get disposed of the ball easy. We can clearly see that he got what it takes when he gets his shit together - but he clearly is not a goal scoring machine, neither is he a dribbling machine. I don't know what to make of his performances sometime, just confusing tbh.

He definitely assists more often than he scores, but he doesn't really "give a lot of assists". With 4 assists, he's ranked 8th out of 14 assisters on the squad.

 

[FCBarca]

It's a well put together theory, Denny...But you can see the defenders aren't really respecting Alexis out wide in that final third so it's even harder to appreciate what the point really is...Is he intended as a decoy in this asymmetrical attack?...If that's the goal, part of being a decoy is giving the illusion of attack otherwise it's not really useful if defenders know you're never going to attack/penetrate...Plus, with an overlapping Dani Alves who is fundamental in that right sided attack, it leaves a lot of space open on that right side of the pitch on counters

I like this in theory more with someone like Pedro who at least forces defenders to respect his presence out wide right with the potential for him to attack, shoot or make runs into the box drawing defenders

 

[DennyCrane]

It's a well put together theory, Denny...But you can see the defenders aren't really respecting Alexis out wide in that final third so it's even harder to appreciate what the point really is...Is he intended as a decoy in this asymmetrical attack?...If that's the goal, part of being a decoy is giving the illusion of attack otherwise it's not really useful if defenders know you're never going to attack/penetrate...Plus, with an overlapping Dani Alves who is fundamental in that right sided attack, it leaves a lot of space open on that right side of the pitch on counters

I like this in theory more with someone like Pedro who at least forces defenders to respect his presence out wide right with the potential for him to attack, shoot or make runs into the box drawing defenders

Well, this tactic has become too easy to see through. With Tello-Leo-Alexis in the line-up, it was pretty clear what was going to happen. It doesn't really take class but defensive discipline for the back-4 to simply ignore the runs and not move back, as seen with Celta Vigo yesterday.
Tello on the left wing, with virtually no support from Montoya and in a more 'roaming' role had lots of space both vertical and diagonal which is when he can use his pace and thrive.
Alexis on the other hand is stuck in the support role and with Dani going forward, he has to move to the center and is then in fact more of a decoy than anything else.

Point is, it's practically irrelevant who takes the role of the support winger - they'll all not shine individually with a game plan like yesterday, even more so when a player is/was used to have the ball and space. And that's the reason why I support your idea of Pedro in this role:
Being a supportive winger is mentally demanding. The player has to get accustomed to the idea that he won't have the ball a lot, that he's always denied space due to his positioning in cutting points and that his role in an attack movement is more of a passive one. With Udinese, Alexis was used to have lots of space on the right both for vertical runs behind the defense and diagonal runs. With his role in Barca and the offense generally positioned pretty high up the pitch - pretty much the opposite is the case and you can see that it's wearing him down. Pedro on the other hand can be a perfect fit for this role since being a passive part doesn't seem to affect him that much.

What I'd like to see is Alexis being put in the role of the 'roaming' winger again, because only then one'll get to see his full potential. He had that role in his debut vs Madrid and he was a living nightmare for Marcelo. After that, he was only sporadically used in that role and, logically consistent, his individual performance dropped.

 

[Barcaman]

I think you are over-analyzing it Denny. If Alexis is so essential to our system how on earth did we win 2 CLs without him and why does our team look better when he's not playing?

 

[mixer]

And with him we won nothing really

 

[Garrus]

Well, this tactic has become too easy to see through. With Tello-Leo-Alexis in the line-up, it was pretty clear what was going to happen. It doesn't really take class but defensive discipline for the back-4 to simply ignore the runs and not move back, as seen with Celta Vigo yesterday.
Tello on the left wing, with virtually no support from Montoya and in a more 'roaming' role had lots of space both vertical and diagonal which is when he can use his pace and thrive.
Alexis on the other hand is stuck in the support role and with Dani going forward, he has to move to the center and is then in fact more of a decoy than anything else.

Point is, it's practically irrelevant who takes the role of the support winger - they'll all not shine individually with a game plan like yesterday, even more so when a player is/was used to have the ball and space. And that's the reason why I support your idea of Pedro in this role:
Being a supportive winger is mentally demanding. The player has to get accustomed to the idea that he won't have the ball a lot, that he's always denied space due to his positioning in cutting points and that his role in an attack movement is more of a passive one. With Udinese, Alexis was used to have lots of space on the right both for vertical runs behind the defense and diagonal runs. With his role in Barca and the offense generally positioned pretty high up the pitch - pretty much the opposite is the case and you can see that it's wearing him down. Pedro on the other hand can be a perfect fit for this role since being a passive part doesn't seem to affect him that much.

What I'd like to see is Alexis being put in the role of the 'roaming' winger again, because only then one'll get to see his full potential. He had that role in his debut vs Madrid and he was a living nightmare for Marcelo. After that, he was only sporadically used in that role and, logically consistent, his individual performance dropped.

Spot on!, Great post

http://bigmatchbreakdown.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/alexis-sanchez-scout-report-20102011/
This article talks extensively in detail about alexis, Before he came to barca, It mentions how he was shackled when he played on the right wing at Udinese, It was until he was moved a bit centrally where he began to really shine, And i quote:

Upon being switched to a more central position Alexis Sanchez was a different player. He got more involved in the build up and he was a more expressive player playing with a lot of freedom. His movement was now more dynamic he was now dropping deep to collect from the midfielders, making runs ahead of his strike partner looking for the final ball or drifting to the wings to create overloads or to cause confusion to the opposition’s defence by making himself more difficult to mark. As a natural right winger his tendency is to drift more to right flank than the left. Being in this central position he seems to be even more unpredictable with his dribbling. He looks to be a more creative force and really shows off his vision while playing centrally also he has scored all of his 12 goals this season after the switch was made.

There is even a part talking about his possible role at barcelona, The author too expected he'll play somewhat as a 'second striker' which logically is where he most shine, But we haven't done that at barca, Which brings the question on why he was bought in the first place?

 

[ceefoo]

Barcas' attack is asymmetrical in that sense. Both wingers have differing tasks. While usually one of the wingers tries to take on defenders one-on-one, hugs the touchline and generally has a more 'free' role, the other winger, usually our right winger, has more of a support role to the false nine, which is absolutely mandatory in this system.
It's vital to the system that the support winger keeps the defense line deep with his movement.

Good point. The role of the RWF is to support Messi. Much more than the LWF for example. Because Leo often drifts out to the right wing it means that Alexis of whoever is playing there is required to move inside so they don't cramp Messi or run down the line to bring the defender out.

It is a much more supportive role, unlike the LWF which, as you mention has more freedom to go where they like and also directly benefit from the diagonal through-passes that Messi plays when he dribbles from out-to-in.

I think if we had a natural left-footer on the RW, he would be able to come inside much more and get his shot away. In that sense, we are slightly unbalanced.

 

[DennyCrane]

I think you are over-analyzing it Denny. If Alexis is so essential to our system how on earth did we win 2 CLs without him and why does our team look better when he's not playing?

Come on, the first question can't be answered in less than 20 pages.

My point is that putting players into a support role will always cripple their individual efforts. Yet, at least one supportive inside forward is mandatory in a false nine system, hence one player has to be 'sacrificed' (from an individual angle) for the greater good. So, it's not Alexis that is essential to our system but the role he and Pedro have in the overall game-plan.

So, why does the team look better when he's not playing ? Does it really ? I claim: If you put Pedro in Alexis place yesterday you would've basically got the same performance. Put Alexis in Tellos' role and play Pedro as a support winger and you'll see Alexis more involved with more space for vertical and diagonal runs and Pedro with 80 % of his actions off the ball.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Alexis would have been better on an individual basis than Tello yesterday, but it would have made a big difference in his play.

In case you're hinting at the Milan return leg: That wasn't down to Alexis not playing, but to a whole different (yet strangely familiar) tactical approach which I'm not going to extend here (unless you ask )since that'll go way off topic.

 

[FCBarca]

It's still Pedro over Alexis for me...Pedro will take his marker on and will get into the box...Apart from the one ball over the top to Sanchez from Tello, did Alexis ever even enter into the box?...If you never give the impression of taking your man on by actually taking them on, I continue to contend this theory is flawed - it requires the illusion, at the very least, that the decoy will make the run, will drag the defense towards him...Sanchez is fooling no one and honestly, I can't believe that Sanchez has been bought as merely a € 26 million decoy

I find the other discussed theory as more plausible really - that he benefited from space...When Sanchez is in open space, he's dangerous...When he has a smaller area to work within, he is unable to create much separation...Personally, I think it's the consequence of a lack of confidence having relied on his quickness/speed with space to work within...Much prefer an Alexis who was fearless and lost the ball when trying to beat his marker than one who rarely even attempted to do so...I contend that makes us far more predictable and asymmetrical

 

[evilhita666]

He had a quiet match, while he didn't make any glaring mistakes he didn't do anything remarkable either... He was a little isolated, like has happened to Pedro lately, but still didn't make an impact...

He looked off, he didn't made that much darting runs, which is something you can count on even when he's playing badly, the only one I can remember was that great pass from Tello that the ref said it was a handball...

It's still Pedro over Alexis for me...Pedro will take his marker on and will get into the box...Apart from the one ball over the top to Sanchez from Tello, did Alexis ever even enter into the box?...If you never give the impression of taking your man on by actually taking them on, I continue to contend this theory is flawed - it requires the illusion, at the very least, that the decoy will make the run, will drag the defense towards him...Sanchez is fooling no one and honestly, I can't believe that Sanchez has been bought as merely a € 26 million decoy

I find the other discussed theory as more plausible really - that he benefited from space...When Sanchez is in open space, he's dangerous...When he has a smaller area to work within, he is unable to create much separation...Personally, I think it's the consequence of a lack of confidence having relied on his quickness/speed with space to work within...Much prefer an Alexis who was fearless and lost the ball when trying to beat his marker than one who rarely even attempted to do so...I contend that makes us far more predictable and asymmetrical

I think it could be a mix of both theories... I don't believe he was bought as a decoy either, but since there was no space for him to do his thing the coaching staff tried to fix it by making him a decoy...

Either way, there's a gear that is missing... When you watch him trying to recover the ball he seems like a leopard after his prey, but when he receives the ball and has to move forward he turns into a kitten...