Alexis Sanchez

Barcaman

Administrator
Staff member
..or change a system. And sign another fellow who will compensate Barca's lack of pace and work ethic.
A tall order.
 

Sumlit

San Claudio Bravo
Could anyone explain why Reus, Bale, Suarez would peform better than Alexis? Doesn't make sense..

It's a simple matter of ideal fit and complementary play. Barcelona teams are built with a support midfield in mind, and also with supporting fullbacks. The ideal forwards to complement this setup are direct scoring wing-forwards or dynamic CF. It's just a matter of the team having more than enough creation and support from midfield and fullbacks, and not needing anymore of it from the forwards. What they need from the forwards is conversion of that creation and support into direct scoring.

Other teams with a more destructive and recuperating midfield, need creative forwards to supplement their creation and support. Alexis played for such a team in Udinese. They needed Alexis creativity to support a striker in Di Natale. This is not the case for Barcelona.

Barcelona's has reached the highest pinnacle in Europe the last two times with a triumvirate of direct wing-forwards and/or dynamic forwards playing from the wing and center. Firstly it was the trio of Henry, Messi and Eto'o. Then the trio of Villa, Messi, Pedro.
This is the forward line that best complements the team.

Alexis could have yet been efficient enough for this team, but that would have meant getting a different player than Neymar. Getting a direct forward would have allowed Alexis to perform his support role more freely. By getting Neymar, now you have 2 support forwards flanking Messi, with a support midfield and supporting fullbacks, which means all the pressure and dependability falls on Messi. That is easier to defend.

I posted this part on the Transfer Rumors thread:

If people don't believe me, watch the efficiency of different fronts. There's a reason Messi with Alexis and Neymar is not an efficient front 3. There's also a reason, any front 3 with Pedro is more efficient than without.

Pedro/Messi/Alexis - Messi is Messi, Alexis support role, Pedro direct scorer role. Efficient.
Neymar/Messi/Pedro - Messi is Messi, Neymar support role, Pedro direct scorer role. Efficient.
Pedro/Neymar/Alexis - Neymar is Messi, Alexis support role, Pedro direct scorer role. Efficient.

Neymar/Messi/Alexis - Messi is Messi, Neymar support role, Alexis??? direct scorer role? He is not that. He is a support forward. That means 2 support players. Not Efficient.


If the marquee players in the forward line from now on will be Neymar and Messi, the best complement for them is a direct scorer.
 

Trickykid

Active member
Why can't Neymar be the direct scorer?

Probably because it would hurt his argument, I'm guessing.

Besides, despite this notion about Alexis not being a direct scorer (or whatever term you were brandishing players like Henry, Eto'o and Villa, Sumlit...) he's still about to better Villa's scoring stats from his most productive season at Barca, and will probably end up with stats rivaling Henry's. But I suppose it doesn't matter, as his style doesn't fit this team, right?
 

Sumlit

San Claudio Bravo
Probably because it would hurt his argument, I'm guessing.

Besides, despite this notion about Alexis not being a direct scorer (or whatever term you were brandishing players like Henry, Eto'o and Villa, Sumlit...) he's still about to better Villa's scoring stats from his most productive season at Barca, and will probably end up with stats rivaling Henry's. But I suppose it doesn't matter, as his style doesn't fit this team, right?

Far from appreciating your unwarranted condescending and aggressive tone, I'll still answer you.

For Neymar, he simply is not there yet. Specially not for Barcelona and playing down the wing. He has the potential and talent to be a complete player, but he still needs to evolve into his own skill. He could play more centrally and be able to better utilize his skillset right now, but he cannot play there with Messi being the overall much superior player. Neymar down the wing, is still, right now, just a support forward.
He has learned since coming to the team. You can see his evolution from his first games up until he got injured, but he still requires more time.

As for Alexis, and we've already argued this before, his scoring numbers for La Liga are a little deceiving. The bulk of his scoring is coming from simple culmination of team plays, which is good for him because he is getting himself in good positions, but still this does nothing to dispel the argument of him being mainly a support player. For him to achieve high scoring numbers, he has to be fed scoring plays. He cannot produce them on his own like Messi can, like Neymar could eventually be depended on to produce, and like those players you said I "brandished" with my term could.

Far all his supposed high scoring, Pedro has almost the same goals, and poor Tello, being played scrap minutes when he even sniffs the field, has 5 scores that when extrapolated to Alexis minutes, would give a similar scoring output. And Tello is nowhere near as talented as Alexis, and Pedro, for that matter, could be argued to not be as overall talented as Alexis. They both just fit a different profile of forward that is a better complement for this team, right now.
 

Trickykid

Active member
Far from appreciating your unwarranted condescending and aggressive tone, I'll still answer you.

For Neymar, he simply is not there yet. Specially not for Barcelona and playing down the wing. He has the potential and talent to be a complete player, but he still needs to evolve into his own skill. He could play more centrally and be able to better utilize his skillset right now, but he cannot play there with Messi being the overall much superior player. Neymar down the wing, is still, right now, just a support forward.
He has learned since coming to the team. You can see his evolution from his first games up until he got injured, but he still requires more time.

As for Alexis, and we've already argued this before, his scoring numbers for La Liga are a little deceiving. The bulk of his scoring is coming from simple culmination of team plays, which is good for him because he is getting himself in good positions, but still this does nothing to dispel the argument of him being mainly a support player. For him to achieve high scoring numbers, he has to be fed scoring plays. He cannot produce them on his own like Messi can, like Neymar could eventually be depended on to produce, and like those players you said I "brandished" with my term could.

Far all his supposed high scoring, Pedro has almost the same goals, and poor Tello, being played scrap minutes when he even sniffs the field, has 5 scores that when extrapolated to Alexis minutes, would give a similar scoring output. And Tello is nowhere near as talented as Alexis, and Pedro, for that matter, could be argued to not be as overall talented as Alexis. They both just fit a different profile of forward that is a better complement for this team, right now.

We've been through all this before, and won't agree on it. I still think that you're over-analyzing the whole Alexis situation. I couldn't care less about labels and stereotypes and what ought to happen in theory. What I can see is that he functions well in the team. He works hard, get's into scoring positions, scores, assists. That's what I judge him by.

But hey, at least I've got to applaud you for your tenacity.
 

Sumlit

San Claudio Bravo
We've been through all this before, and won't agree on it. I still think that you're over-analyzing the whole Alexis situation. I couldn't care less about labels and stereotypes and what ought to happen in theory. What I can see is that he functions well in the team. He works hard, get's into scoring positions, scores, assists. That's what I judge him by.

But hey, at least I've got to applaud you for your tenacity.

I admit there is the possibility I could be over-analyzing the situation as you say. However I still maintain this. It is only my opinion after all, and I do believe it has some basis and logic behind it.

I also agree with you characterization of Alexis. He is a good kid, good team mate and good player. He does work hard, get into good positions, has been finishing plays better this season and is a good assister. However I still maintain that a better player for this team would be one who could do all that, even perhaps at a lesser level than Alexis, but also create scoring for his own. Alexis does not create scoring for his own. All his strongest qualities are that of a player who supports others.

This is my opinion, nothing more.
 

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