Pepe Silvia
Active member
He was a nuisance to Milan, and that is always a good thing. He played pretty well.
Co0ter
Senior Member
Yes. Xavi and Dani Alves repeatedly choosing to feed Messi the ball in a far less favorable position than Alexis. They did the same thing to Neymar a few times as well.
The Observer
New member
His overall play is lacking. You'll notice this once his goals dry up which they will because he's not going to keep up a 1 goal per game tally all season long. He averages 0.8 dribbles per game in La Liga and even worse 0.3 dribbles per game in the UCL. Compare this to Neymar who averages 4 per game both in La Liga and in the UCL which also matches the optical feeling that Neymar is a nuisance to any rightback. I don't remember Alexis being a nuisance to any leftback this season. If he's going to be a poacher with great movement and workrate then Pedro should play more. He does the same and his decision making, passing and first touch are superior at least. Alexis breaks up too many attacks because he hesitates and doesn't know what to do in the final third for my liking. Except when we are on the break.
I really hope Tata rates the player that he is now and not the image of the "Udinese Alexis" which he has in his head.
I really hope Tata rates the player that he is now and not the image of the "Udinese Alexis" which he has in his head.
serghei
Senior Member
Respect players for what they are, not for you'd like them to be. We have enough tiki-taka players who can pass and pass and pass and pass in tight spaces. If only we had Alexis when we were 1-0 on Meazza with Inter and knew how to play on the counter. It might have turned out differently than 1-3.
That's why he doesn't fit into the system, he's just not a dynamic player who will create that havoc in and around the box and score goals. It's been like a few months and he scored some goals but that doesn't mean that he will end the season in a satysfing number, at least for this system, and everybody founds this as an excuse. Like it wasn't proved before that Alexis is not a scorer, if he doesn't score he doesn't fit into this system. This system was flourished by different kind of players who all shared the same responsibilities, Henry Eto'o Villa and Pedro, Pedro in our case is not the same player anymore like 2010-11 but the point is that all of them could create something and not being supportive to one player that in this case it's Messi. That's why in big games like Bayern he could respond to what he was needed to do.
Alexis is a very good player, no doubt about that but doesn't fit into this system comparing with what kind of players this system has worked before. Messi had to do all of his own and whenever he was closed Sanchez couldn't do his style that is supporting others and by the way this doesn't go with our system.
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serghei
Senior Member
So far Alexis is the 2nd goalscorer of the team. No reason to think he will not score more goals. Play him in the hole and he will score. Every player is different. It's the job of the coach to make everyone happy and comfortable. If the staff decides we do not need him, then we should sell him. But if Alexis were to play against us, I wouldn't feel safe at all. I'm glad we have him.
And we don't have a system anymore. We have systems.
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Pepe Silvia
Active member
The system is evolved, and is not so rigid in definition that unorthodox players like Sanchez will be exposed for their differences. We improved on not relying so much on Messi for goals as we've seen in recent weeks, and that was the MAJOR problem we faced. If we can continue moving the ball, evolving the system so that we keep teams on their toes, we will put ourselves in a good position to do good things.
Gohan
Super Saiyan
Good post.
tello
New member
He was disastrous ! I hope tonight he'll do a lot more for the team !
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CatalinR10
Senior Member
DonAndres
Wild Man of Borneo
An off the ball support player is just as vital to the team as a dynamic one. We don't need all of our attackers to be dribbling oriented alpha-dogs. Alexis is great at making runs and opening up the defense with his movement, Pedro doesn't compare to him in that respect and is a far more passive player than Alexis despite having better technique. The fact is that we play with quicker transitions now, which benefits Alexis getting into those holes created by the opposition defense. Support players are important to the team, not everyone has to be a genius on the ball to be a good player. If we were to diminish the importance of supporting players then we would be ignoring guys like Busquets, Alexis, Iniesta, and previously Abidal who's jobs indirectly impact how we play, but are equally vital as the others.
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