Alexis Sanchez

[Pepe Silvia]

That's pretty ridiculous. People have different opinions and different perspectives, to suggest those that disagree with yours are slow to the mark or stuck in the past is patently absurd.

There is plenty of evidence to give credence to the opinion that Alexis, while still being a very very good player, is not an ideal fit for the role he fills at Barca. And yes, even despite his increased production compared to his previous years.

"Is not an ideal fit for the role he fills at Barca." Sorry, but this is grasping at straws. There will continue to be one-off games where Alexis won't play well, but the idea that there is currently someone out there better suited for our football is fantasy and the opinion has no legs to stand on. Alexis has earned his stripes and we can ask for nothing more from any player than what he is currently giving us.

 

[Trickykid]

Well Flavia it might not be simple, but it is also not out of the realm of possibility. All those players, with the exception of Muller, have changed clubs in the past 3 years. Suarez was bought by Liverpool for 22M in 2011.

And it's not like Barca don't have capital. They've spent god knows how much money on Neymar just now.

Exactly. We've just splashed out on Neymar, meaning we won't do it again this summer. Especially not now that we're (hopefully) looking for a world class cb, and possibly also a midfielder of some sort.
Edit: And a goalie, of course, too.

And do you honestly not think that Lewa, who have just signed for Bayern, Suarez and Cavani who are both in the 70-100 mio league and Muller, who's not going to leave BM, are out of the realm of possibility?

 

[Sumlit]

"Is not an ideal fit for the role he fills at Barca." Sorry, but this is grasping at straws. There will continue to be one-off games where Alexis won't play well, but the idea that there is currently someone out there better suited for our football is fantasy and the opinion has no legs to stand on. Alexis has earned his stripes and we can ask for nothing more from any player than what he is currently giving us.

It is not grasping at straws and I've already given valid reasoning as to why. You might very well disagree with it, but that does not remove validity from the argument.

 

[Sumlit]

Exactly. We've just splashed out on Neymar, meaning we won't do it again this summer. Especially not now that we're (hopefully) looking for a world class cb, and possibly also a midfielder of some sort.
Edit: And a goalie, of course, too.

And do you honestly not think that Lewa, who have just signed for Bayern, Suarez and Cavani who are both in the 70-100 mio league and Muller, who's not going to leave BM, are out of the realm of possibility?

They would be harder to get now of course, but the fact all of them were available within just three years ago shows that with a more visionary and proactive group of people leading this team, they could have been obtained much easier than now. It also shows that there are always good players to be had if you're smart enough to get them.

 

[Trickykid]

They would be harder to get now of course, but the fact all of them were available within just three years ago shows that with a more visionary and proactive group of people leading this team, they could have been obtained much easier than now. It also shows that there are always good players to be had if you're smart enough to get them.

Again, we're not talking about the past. You are the ones who want Alexis out. Sadly Marty McFly isn't here for us, so we can't just zip back in time and get Lewa.

 

[Sumlit]

Again, we're not talking about the past. You are the ones who want Alexis out. Sadly Marty McFly isn't here for us, so we can't just zip back in time and get Lewa.

Find me where I've said I want Alexis out. Go on, I'll wait.

 

[Trickykid]

Find me where I've said I want Alexis out. Go on, I'll wait.

Oh come on .
Either way, I'm off for the match.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

@ Sumlit:

The results speak for themselves. So, as much as I used to agree with your arguments about Alexis not being suited to our game, times have changed and so has the general consensus.

Tata has integrated Alexis' unique style and aligned it with our current system, whereas Tito and Pep basically threw him in the deep end of the pool. He sank because there were complex theories being applied that he knew very little about and it was obvious that proper care was not taken to bring out the real Alexis. That coupled with untimely injuries meant the project was failing.

Fast forward a few years. Alexis believes in the cause thanks in part to Tata and maybe a little of the young South American partnership he has with Neymar (I do agree with the person who stated Alexis' game elevated when Neymar was signed), the overall game of Alexis has evolved into something entirely suited to Barca (Goals, assists, link-up play, deadly crosses, work rate and defense, etc). There is little one could argue that Alexis does not offer in terms of tools. You can nitpick any one of our players. For example, Messi is short and is weak at headers and set pieces, Cesc is slow in transition, Montoya is weak in attack, etc etc. Does not mean they are not suited. Once they are integrated, they are part of the squad.

It seems to me that your opinion may be outdated.

 

[Sumlit]

@ Sumlit:

The results speak for themselves. So, as much as I used to agree with your arguments about Alexis not being suited to our game, times have changed and so has the general consensus.

Tata has integrated Alexis' unique style and aligned it with our current system, whereas Tito and Pep basically threw him in the deep end of the pool. He sank because there were complex theories being applied that he knew very little about and it was obvious that proper care was not taken to bring out the real Alexis. That coupled with untimely injuries meant the project was failing.

Fast forward a few years. Alexis believes in the cause thanks in part to Tata and maybe a little of the young South American partnership he has with Neymar (I do agree with the person who stated Alexis' game elevated when Neymar was signed), the overall game of Alexis has evolved into something entirely suited to Barca (Goals, assists, link-up play, deadly crosses, work rate and defense, etc). There is little one could argue that Alexis does not offer in terms of tools. You can nitpick any one of our players. For example, Messi is short and is weak at headers and set pieces, Cesc is slow in transition, Montoya is weak in attack, etc etc. Does not mean they are not suited. Once they are integrated, they are part of the squad.

It seems to me that your opinion may be outdated.

Again, I've never said Alexis does not fit our style. You need to look carefully at what I write. I said he is not an ideal fit for the ROLE he is being asked to fill.
Barca needs Alexis to be a reliable scorer. They depend on him to score and to be a constant scoring threat to take heat off Messi and to score when Messi is being dogged and marked like crazy.

Alexis game predicates around support and creativity. He is an assister first, scorer second. That is his game. He will never be a dependable prolific goal scorer. You can say he has improved his play this season, which is true. You can say he has scored more this season, which is also true. However when you analyse the goals individually, they are not coming from brilliant individual play or great individual skill. Most are team goals and fluke plays. This is something hard to sustain and hard to depend on.

It seems to me you may not reading well what I'm writing.

 

[eye-switcher]

I only dislike folks who don't want to understand that for a part of cules Alexis isn't the right player to fit this position in this FC Barcelona squad !

He'll never play CF at Barca on a regular basis, on the left is not doing any better than on the right and no matter what coach Barca will hire Alexis won't get to play in his natural positon and he can't give more where he plays today. I like the guy a lot, I respect what he does and where he is today considering he had a very poor family but still those facts cannot overcome the fact that he does not posses the right skillset for that position that he plays in today's Barca team.

You dislike folks that Think Alexis is the right player for that position in Barcelona? Wow get over yourself, you must really dislike alot of people then? Its only you that understand , is it so? because of your super intellect you know something that we others just cant grasp ?

 

[e28makaveli]

"Is not an ideal fit for the role he fills at Barca." Sorry, but this is grasping at straws. There will continue to be one-off games where Alexis won't play well, but the idea that there is currently someone out there better suited for our football is fantasy and the opinion has no legs to stand on. Alexis has earned his stripes and we can ask for nothing more from any player than what he is currently giving us.

+5.

 

[e28makaveli]

@ Sumlit:

The results speak for themselves. So, as much as I used to agree with your arguments about Alexis not being suited to our game, times have changed and so has the general consensus.

Tata has integrated Alexis' unique style and aligned it with our current system, whereas Tito and Pep basically threw him in the deep end of the pool. He sank because there were complex theories being applied that he knew very little about and it was obvious that proper care was not taken to bring out the real Alexis. That coupled with untimely injuries meant the project was failing.

Fast forward a few years. Alexis believes in the cause thanks in part to Tata and maybe a little of the young South American partnership he has with Neymar (I do agree with the person who stated Alexis' game elevated when Neymar was signed), the overall game of Alexis has evolved into something entirely suited to Barca (Goals, assists, link-up play, deadly crosses, work rate and defense, etc). There is little one could argue that Alexis does not offer in terms of tools. You can nitpick any one of our players. For example, Messi is short and is weak at headers and set pieces, Cesc is slow in transition, Montoya is weak in attack, etc etc. Does not mean they are not suited. Once they are integrated, they are part of the squad.

It seems to me that your opinion may be outdated.

Could not have said it any better.

 

[tello]

You dislike folks that Think Alexis is the right player for that position in Barcelona? Wow get over yourself, you must really dislike alot of people then? Its only you that understand , is it so? because of your super intellect you know something that we others just cant grasp ?

Since you didn't get it I must say it myself... It was a message tho the Alexis "fanatics" which sometimes are quite agressive with the others

And thanks for the compliments, it wasn't necessary

 

[rixxer]

Again, I've never said Alexis does not fit our style. You need to look carefully at what I write. I said he is not an ideal fit for the ROLE he is being asked to fill.
Barca needs Alexis to be a reliable scorer. They depend on him to score and to be a constant scoring threat to take heat off Messi and to score when Messi is being dogged and marked like crazy.

Alexis game predicates around support and creativity. He is an assister first, scorer second. That is his game. He will never be a dependable prolific goal scorer. You can say he has improved his play this season, which is true. You can say he has scored more this season, which is also true. However when you analyse the goals individually, they are not coming from brilliant individual play or great individual skill. Most are team goals and fluke plays. This is something hard to sustain and hard to depend on.

It seems to me you may not reading well what I'm writing.

Have you done it? I mean analyzed his goals individually? You just say it out that "are not coming from brilliant individual play or great individual skill" but do they? I doubt and oyu should be one to prove because you are just repeating the same all the time without giving any proof.
As far as I can remember there are variety of goals this season from him, some of them genius like (R Madrdid), some of them smart, some of them just being in right place in right time, and remember the latter is also a skill not a gift from heaven.

 

[Kohe321]

@ Sumlit:

The results speak for themselves. So, as much as I used to agree with your arguments about Alexis not being suited to our game, times have changed and so has the general consensus.

Tata has integrated Alexis' unique style and aligned it with our current system, whereas Tito and Pep basically threw him in the deep end of the pool. He sank because there were complex theories being applied that he knew very little about and it was obvious that proper care was not taken to bring out the real Alexis. That coupled with untimely injuries meant the project was failing.

Fast forward a few years. Alexis believes in the cause thanks in part to Tata and maybe a little of the young South American partnership he has with Neymar (I do agree with the person who stated Alexis' game elevated when Neymar was signed), the overall game of Alexis has evolved into something entirely suited to Barca (Goals, assists, link-up play, deadly crosses, work rate and defense, etc). There is little one could argue that Alexis does not offer in terms of tools. You can nitpick any one of our players. For example, Messi is short and is weak at headers and set pieces, Cesc is slow in transition, Montoya is weak in attack, etc etc. Does not mean they are not suited. Once they are integrated, they are part of the squad.

It seems to me that your opinion may be outdated.

Good post, I agree 100%!

Alexis has finally seemed to find his role in the team, and it probably has a lot to do with Martinos way of handling him. It's a good point that you make that we can always nitpick on things that the individual players don't do to perfection, but as you say, as long as each and every one brings something valuable and unique to the table and is integrated into the system properly, then they make up for it together. Just look at the Chicago Bulls in the Jordan era - lots of the players around him were weak at certain parts of the game, but since they worked so well together and played on each others strengths rather than weaknesses, it worked like a charm. And of course Jordan carried a huge part of the weight, but so does Messi in Barca, and star players in other top teams...

Alexis has some very clear and unique strengths as a player. Insane workrate (both defensive and offensive), very nice last-balls for assists and some really nice and timely goals (ie. this seasons el clasico). He offers Barca a lot of unique things that won't be easily replaced, and it would be a shame to sell him now that he's finally starting to find his purpose and role in the squad...

I'm thinking next seasons RW and LW positions should be Neymar/Pedro and Alexis/Deulofeu, with Pedro stepping in on the RW position as well when a spot opens for more playing time (which he deserves). Tello could go out on loan to Everton and Gerard could come back.