Alexis Sanchez

[Learo]

How many goals did Villa score in his first season with us?

I seem to remember him misfiring and going offside constantly, right from the first match, and it never really improved.

 

[Sumlit]

How many goals did Villa score in his first season with us?

I seem to remember him misfiring and going offside constantly, right from the first match, and it never really improved.

Villa always had awful offside awareness. This was not a Barca system issue, but Villa's weakness. He had 23 goals and 9 assists in all competitions his first season at Barca.

 

[Learo]

Villa always had awful offside awareness. This was not a Barca system issue, but Villa's weakness. He had 23 goals and 9 assists in all competitions his first season at Barca.

His stats are similar to Alexis then, but Alexis has more assists. Less than a goal every other game.

Johan Cruyff said that Villa arrived to open up space and room for others (read: Messi). I think that pretty much sums up all our superstar forward signings, whether Ibra, Villa, Neymar, Alexis.

 

[Sumlit]

Villa was a natural scorer that provided a strong scoring threat. His finishing skills and his willingness to shoot (averaged 4 shots per game his first season) meant he was always affecting defenses with his presence. Being a wing forward/mobile 9 also meant he provided flexibility and variety to the formation.

Alexis is not a natural scorer, he isn't a strong finisher, and is a very reluctant shooter. He does not offer anywhere near the scoring threat to affect defenses as a forward for Barcelona. What he is though, is a very creative player with a high motor, boundless energy and a great team player. He is more a wing attacking midfielder/creative winger, so he does not offer nearly the same positional flexibility as a mobile forward like Villa.

His main attributes are his creativity and work rate. That's what Barcelona need to exploit. Put him in position for those skills to shine. As long as they will depend on Alexis for scoring, the team will be vulnerable and will not be getting the best out of the player.

 

[Learo]

Villa was a natural scorer that provided a strong scoring threat. His finishing skills and his willingness to shoot (averaged 4 shots per game his first season) meant he was always affecting defenses with his presence. Being a wing forward/mobile 9 also meant he provided flexibility and variety to the formation.

Alexis is not a natural scorer, he isn't a strong finisher, and is a very reluctant shooter. He does not offer anywhere near the scoring threat to affect defenses as a forward for Barcelona. What he is though, is a very creative player with a high motor, boundless energy and a great team player. He is more a wing attacking midfielder/creative winger, so he does not offer nearly the same positional flexibility as a mobile forward like Villa.

His main attributes are his creativity and work rate. That's what Barcelona need to exploit. Put him in position for those skills to shine. As long as they will depend on Alexis for scoring, the team will be vulnerable and will not be getting the best out of the player.

I agree. His strength is his vision and determination. He still scores about as many goals as David Villa did for us though. I think Villa was a big flop to be honest. Like Ibra. Alexis has been more successful IMO even if both are played out of position and expected to play some sort of supporting role for the big star. Hopefully, Lucho manages to put an end to the madness of severely restricting superstar forward signings to provide for Messi. Maybe a new no.9 who actually plays in the center in front of Messi is the best idea.

 

[BBZ8800]

His stats are similar to Alexis then, but Alexis has more assists. Less than a goal every other game.

Johan Cruyff said that Villa arrived to open up space and room for others (read: Messi). I think that pretty much sums up all our superstar forward signings, whether Ibra, Villa, Neymar, Alexis.

Villa was opening spaces for others but he was still scoring Goals against harder opponents.

Alexis only opens spaces, and doesn't bring too much in bigger matches (when Messi and Neymar are on the field), or for example, in Champions league matches.
Again, most of Alexis goals are when Messi or Neymar are not on the field, or when we are playing against weaker opponents.

He is weaker than Villa and Eto'o.
Again, I am slightly trolling, but it is not a coincidence, Alexis=no CL trophies.

 

[CatalinR10]

Again, I am slightly trolling, but it is not a coincidence, Alexis=no CL trophies.

 

[Catta]

Alexis=no CL trophies.

Cesc=no CL trophies
Alba=no CL trophies
Bartra=no CL trophies
Montoya=no CL trophies
Tello=no CL trophies
Song=no CL trophies

 

[Behrox]

Cesc=no CL trophies
Alba=no CL trophies
Bartra=no CL trophies
Montoya=no CL trophies
Tello=no CL trophies
Song=no CL trophies

Thats why we are looking to offload the top one along with the 2 at the bottom

 

[Catta]

Thats why we are looking to offload the top one along with the 2 at the bottom

Do you really think that these players are the reason we have not won a CL?
Song hasn't started one big game since he was bought, so it was not his fault we lost on the CL, same goes for Tello
the same can be said about Alexis, in titos barca pedro was favoured and in tatas barca cesc was favoured in front of him
I'm not saying we should keep all players, but you CAN NOT say this player is the reason we have not won CL, the whole team is at fault

 

[ebieymjunior]

Cesc=no CL trophies
Alba=no CL trophies
Bartra=no CL trophies
Montoya=no CL trophies
Tello=no CL trophies
Song=no CL trophies

Bartra was in the CL winning squad

 

[BBZ8800]

the same can be said about Alexis, in titos barca pedro was favoured and in tatas barca cesc was favoured in front of him
I'm not saying we should keep all players, but you CAN NOT say this player is the reason we have not won CL, the whole team is at fault

In a topic about Fabregas, a lot of our fans agreed with the explanation that:
1. Fabregas didn't have his position under Pep
2. Fabregas didn't have his position under Tito
3. Fabregas didn't have his position under Tata
4. plus, Lucho is willing to offload him
-- so, 2 possibilities were:
a) all our coaches are/were stupid since none of them found a place for Cesc and since Cesc wasn't a starter under any of them
b) there is a reason why Cesc wasn't a starter, he is just not good enough for Barca/or he doesn't fit our style and we won't change our style to fit him

Now, you can say more or less the same for Alexis.
1. Guardiola preferred Pedro
2. Tito also preferred Pedro
3. Tata dropped Pedro and preffered 442 with Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas+Messi and Neymar, leaving Alexis on the bench
4. it seems that Lucho is willing to let him go also

Now, the same could be said/asked again:
a) if all 4 coaches don't play him as a first choice, again, either all of our coaches are stupid
b) or he isn't good enough, or he doesn't fit our style and we won't change our style to fit him

The same can be said about Song also.

 

[Catta]

^
I agree about cesc, he doesn't fit, hes a great player but it seems not for our system
but alexis is not the same, pep didn't prefer pedro, but tito did prefer pedro, and titos barca was for me one of the worst in the last 10 years, yes they won la liga, but that was because mourinho and real were shit, titos barca was iniesta on left wing, messi in the middle and pedro right, and only because of messi that attack worked, i dont't know why tata played cesc in front of alexis or pedro , but we all can agree that was a mistake, maybe the season would have finished different if we used only our attacking player for attacking positions
if alexis doesn't fit our style then neither does pedro, because alexis since he came to barca was better than pedro in all departments in each season

 

[CesDel]

Villa was not a shell of his old self in Barca's system. His first season was very good, he just was no longer the first option like he was at Valencia. Eto'o was moved to the wing forward role when Pep had the vision to move Messi to the middle. The same position Alexis plays now. The team was better then, the system was better then, and opponents still gave them more space then, but it was the same role. Both Villa and Eto'o were plainly just better pure scorers than Alexis.

His first season was so and so. He started badly the first 2 months, but after the 5-0 win against Real Madrid he played at a high level for around 2-3 months. But after that, he was missing so many chances that you could have forgotten that finishing was his biggest strenght. He was even made fun of for it in Crackovia(pro-Barca comedy show)

Then his 2nd season, he was bad, really bad, until his injury. In his third season, he started scoring at a pretty good rate, but everything else he did was average to non-existent..

 

[serghei]

That's not for me to decide or figure out. I look forward to see how Deulofou handles the task... hopefully Lucho changes the role of both wingers and we never have this discussion again.

You seriously expect Deulofeu to score 19 goals, provide 10 assists and pull off two golazos against our biggest rivals in the following La Liga? I don't. Instead, I see Alexis as the no.1 option on the right wing, but not as a line-hugger but as a wide forward who comes inside a lot.