Alexis Sanchez

[ZenI]

His hard work compensates for lack of talent. I do admit it's embarrassing to see him do funny poses or pull his shorts. Confidence issues, I guess.
Barto's statement today was a bit of a surprise. There's no room for Alexis on the left. On the right there's Pedro who's a homeboy, Deu is coming back, and Rafinha might shoot for same spot too. Not to mention Lucho's words of strengthening all lines.
We'll see.

Our homeboy has been crap for over 3 seasons now. At least Alexis scores more, creates more, assists more, dribbles better and even defends more and better. How Deu is getting such praise from Del Bosque really surprises me, imo he hasn't done anything really positive in Everton. Rafinha is a CM/AM. Anyway, imo it's just silly to compare Alexis to Deu and Rafinha.
BUT, I do agree with many that Alexis can be really frustrating - I also expected more and on a regular basis.

 

[Learo]

Hopefully, Lucho plays with Messi in the hole with a man in front of him. Messi is played out of position as a false 9 IMO, and Alexis is also played out of position now.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Alexis dribbles like a donkey. Why do people keep saying he is a good dribbler? Dani Alves has a better dribbling completion than Alexis and he is a full back. He can't dribble a defender for his life.

 

[DonAK]

Alexis is frustrating as hell when he dribbles. 'Should I go here.... or there..... or that way.... and.... he ends up tripping.'

 

[Semi-Neutral]

3+ seasons is enough trial and error for me.

But he's shown improvement in every season, a quite significant amount as well...

 

[serghei]

The same old Alexis talk... :zzz:

 

[ZenI]

Alexis dribbles like a donkey. Why do people keep saying he is a good dribbler? Dani Alves has a better dribbling completion than Alexis and he is a full back. He can't dribble a defender for his life.

Even if I agree to some extent, I know you're an Alexis hater. And I just compared Alexis dribbling with Pedro's, and honestly I've almost never seen Pedro dribble anybody in his whole career - at least Alexis confuses his opponents with his twist and turns and they just give up

Alexis is frustrating as hell when he dribbles. 'Should I go here.... or there..... or that way.... and.... he ends up tripping.'

It's a part of his dribbling style, he confuses people on purpose - all part of the dribble

 

[Pepe Silvia]

But he's shown improvement in every season, a quite significant amount as well...

His improvement this season was due to Messi being out and making the most of it, but I don't expect that to be the case should he stay another season. In Europe, any competent defender completely OWNS Alexis. He is so incredibly easy to contain it's embarrassing. Just look at the way Neymar moves with the ball. He is young and has work to do himself, but when he has the ball he is able to dribble, see the pitch and open it up, and create from nothing on his own he demands respect from defenders. Alexis is incapable of making things happen on his own (RM golazo aside) and dribbles like he is only trying to survive a panic attack - it's a losing battle almost every time. That has been the trend for Alexis stay at Barcelona, so no I haven't seen his biggest flaws improved in a way that makes me feel confident about him next season.

 

[Sumlit]

Pedro's not a dribbler. He is a cut and shoot or cut and pass type of player. He is effective doing that.

Alexis dribbles are a bunch of wasted motion that almost never give positive result and end up plenty of times with him tripping on his own feet and/or getting dispossessed.

 

[ZenI]

His improvement this season was due to Messi being out and making the most of it, but I don't expect that to be the case should he stay another season. In Europe, any competent defender completely OWNS Alexis. He is so incredibly easy to contain it's embarrassing. Just look at the way Neymar moves with the ball. He is young and has work to do himself, but when he has the ball he is able to dribble, see the pitch and open it up, and create from nothing on his own he demands respect from defenders. Alexis is incapable of making things happen on his own (RM golazo aside) and dribbles like he is only trying to survive a panic attack - it's a losing battle almost every time. That has been the trend for Alexis stay at Barcelona, so no I haven't seen his biggest flaws improved in a way that makes me feel confident about him next season.

But why was this his best season so far, even if we as a team played our worst season in many years? Messi was also totally owned this season, and don't even get me started on Pedro.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Even if I agree to some extent, I know you're an Alexis hater.

I've been open that I both love and hate Alexis this season. That's about as balanced as it gets so I don't know what it solved to bring that up. If I were an Alexis hater I would ignore every good thing he does for the club but I always give credit where it's due. If you have any questions about that go back and read all the praise I wrote for him mid season. It's just gotten to a point where we have to make serious changes, and Alexis, although improved, still has many flaws and in my eyes is not a superstar player the way he makes himself out to be. I'm tired of the hand holding that Alexis needs after so many seasons with the club, I don't see a commanding forward striking fear in any opponents. That's just me though.

 

[Kerrybai]

Alexis dribbles like a donkey. Why do people keep saying he is a good dribbler? Dani Alves has a better dribbling completion than Alexis and he is a full back. He can't dribble a defender for his life.

Actually in the right set up he can be a good dribbler. He sucks at Barca because he lacks confidence and can't dribble against parked buses.His dribbling is designed for counter attacking, similar to the likes of Bale and Ronaldo. Here check out his dribbling stats. The numbers are dribbles per game.

2013/2014 Barcelona SLL 1.1
2013/2014 Barcelona ICL 0.7
2012/2013 Barcelona SLL 1.2
2012/2013 Barcelona ICL 0.4
2011/2012 Barcelona SLL 0.9
2011/2012 Barcelona ICL 0.2
2010/2011 Udinese ISA 3
2009/2010 Udinese ISA 2.2


The problem for us is we face parked buses and play possession football. This won't change anytime soon and as a result Alexis will continue to dribble like a donkey. Barcelona players need to be good technical dribblers who can weave in and out of tight paces.

He was very consistent with Messi out of the lineup and forming an excellent partnership with Neymar... that is a fact.

But... BUT prepare for the unpopular opinion and see how honest some of you are willing to be: Alexis sucks for the most part when Messi is on the pitch. Alexis is made to run through the center, not on the wing unable to see the whole pitch. His creativity is stifled out wide.

With Messi in, there is very little for Alexis to do. He is better off in Serie A where he can make the most of his potential. If he is to stay, I'd love for him to switch roles with Messi but I don't see that happen. Alexis has a wicked free kick but I don't see Messi giving those up either. If you ask me, Messi should chill tf out and work for the team by sacrificing a little. Digress. Lucho probably won't shift Messi out wide for anyone, but if he does, I will be really happy for Alexis sake, should he stay, and more importantly for the teams chemistry and dynamic in attack.

I'm sure Messi would play on the right is he is asked to, didn't he do so against Madrid ? The problem with that is his talent isn't fully utilized. I don't think we should make Messi less effective to accommodate anyone, never mind Sanchez. Perhaps we could use Messi as a ten and have Sanchez as a 9 but buying w new number 9 with Sanchez funds might be a better option, especially with Pedro available for the right side and Deu knocking on the door.

 

[instinct]

Personally, I'd keep Alexis. I wouldn't even sell him for 30m unless we get a proper replacement which I don't see atm. Alexis really stepped up this season, wether it was because of Messi's absence or Tata gave him more confidence is another question but he was our 2nd best scorer and gave many assists as well. Furthermore, his workrate is admirable.

I may be one of a few but I do believe that his lack of effectivness is rather caused due to our system than his personal skills. He showed his skills more than enough IMO. It's the same with Cesc. People blame them because their performance rapidly decreases in the 2nd half of the season but I think it's because of the way we play, our static way of passing the ball around. Alexis is nowhere able to use his pace because counter attacking football is just not what we are playing. I don't want to say that we should switch to counter-attacking football but to see the best Alexis (and the best Cesc) we should use a more direct style of play which we did and Alexis had a great season till the whole team collapsed.

The argument that Alexis only shined because of Messi's absence is invalid for me, at least it's no argument against Alexis. It's rather the coachs' decision how much involved Messi is. It was Tata's job to introduce different tactics to the team which reduce the ''Messidependencia'' but it clearly didn't work.

However, I have to admit that is ineffectivness in front of the goal is worrying and he was not always performing well but he was still one of the most important pillars of this team this season. I'd keep him, especially because his insane workrate is something Lucho probably needs to build a balanced team.

 

[Sumlit]

Messi was also totally owned this season

 

[Pepe Silvia]

But why was this his best season so far, even if we as a team played our worst season in many years? Messi was also totally owned this season, and don't even get me started on Pedro.

I have my own personal feelings on Messi that are extremely unpopular on here so I won't even go there because the Messi brigade will come in here crying in no time so I'll leave it at that. Pedro sucks now. He hasn't been the same for a long time and I want him and Alexis sold. It's not that Alexis and Pedro weren't providing numbers to some extent this season, that's not the issue. It's the staleness and recycled profile that has to change. The cycle has ENDED guys, and guys like Pedro and Alexis are sticking out as the deadwood as one of my personal favorite player Dani Alves. It's making the tough decisions and keeping emotions and nostalgia out of it. Pedro and Alexis have had a good run, but it's time for them to go if you ask me.