SUBSTITUTE SANCHEZ IS LEFT FRUSTRATED ONCE AGAIN
Wenger’s decision to leave forward out is puzzling flop
IT was the 27th minute when the visiting fans began to sing the song for their hero. He had just been given the signal to warm up, having spent 27 minutes dumbfounded.
‘Alexis Sanchez, baby!’ Arsenal’s travelling contingent bellowed. ‘Alexis Sanchez, oooh, oh!’
There was nothing wrong with the Chilean, we could see as he limbered up. No sign of him moving gingerly, no extra layers to protect him from the cold. Sanchez, the top Gunner, had been placed on the bench for the biggest Premier League game of Arsenal’s campaign.
Arsene Wenger’s thinking? He wanted a more direct approach against a Liverpool defence that five days earlier had been exposed by Jamie Vardy’s pace at Leicester. It made no sense to anyone, least of all Sanchez, whose future at the Emirates Stadium is in the balance. His goals have secured seven points for Arsenal so far and this contest appeared tailor-made for his star quality.
It was a contest that was crucial to shaping Arsenal’s ambitions for the remainder of the campaign, so why leave out the man most likely to have a positive bearing?
In those first 27 minutes, Arsenal found themselves a goal behind. By the end of the first half, the deficit had been doubled and, most damning of all, Wenger’s side had not touched the ball once in Liverpool’s penalty area.
There have been some superb Arsenal performances at this stadium down the years but the paucity of this one, bereft of guile and inspiration and energy, was arguably the worst of the Premier League era. Liverpool were functional in building their lead but their opponents were horribly subservient.
Sanchez wouldn’t have stood for it. His refusal to sign a new £180,000 per week deal may be worrying Arsenal’s hierarchy but he is not the kind of player who takes his contractual issues onto the pitch. He has that same ferocious will to win as all the top South American performers.
Brendan Rodgers was heartbroken that he could not sign Sanchez for Liverpool in the summer of 2014. Rodgers invested a significant time trying to convince the Chilean and was adamant he would have been perfect to fill the void left by Luis Suarez.
When you have a player as good as Sanchez — one who would improve every team in the Premier League, why not put him on the pitch as often as you can?
Certainly Jurgen Klopp must have done a double take once the teamsheets were published and Sanchez wasn’t selected.
Belatedly, Wenger saw the error of his ways, hauling off Francis Coquelin during the interval and ushering Sanchez into the fray — a move that was the signal for his name to be sung by those fans crammed into the corner of the Anfield Road end.
What followed in the next 45 minutes merely highlighted the initial selection. Arsenal got their first meaningful touch in Liverpool’s area within two mininutes of Sanchez comingg onto the pitch — Olivier Giroud’s header was palmed away by Simon Mignolet — and suddenly looked a different team.
Prowling on the leftt side with that squat, powererful physique, every time me he got on the ball, you could see Klopp fidgeting a little more uncomfortably in his technical area.
Sanchez created the goal that dragged Arsenal back into the game, a slide-rule ball that allowed Danny Welbeck to lift his chip beyond Mignolet. Sanchez almost pilfered an equaliser in injury time, exchanging passes with Hector BellerinBelleri before having a shot chargedchar down. InI the next attack, though,th the hosts surged upu the pitch and made sures of three points. As Liverpool’sL players hurtledh to celebrate withw Gini Wijnaldum, SanchezSa pulled his shirt up tot cover his face in an attemptattemp to mask his disappointment. He was fooling nobody. This was a big night, one that may lead to Arsenal’s unbroken sequence of top four finishes coming to an end. It might also prove to be the night that persuades Sanchez his time as their top gun is approaching its end.