SANCHEZ IS PLAYING KETCHUP
Ole insists striker is like a bottle of tomato sauce… and the talent is ready to pour out!
ALEXIS SANCHEZ has had to endure some unfavourable comparisons during his wretched Manchester United career, and on the eve of tonight’s FA Cup fifth-round clash at Chelsea he was likened to a bottle of ketchup by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
United’s caretaker boss was trying to be positive in his colourful analogy, but it felt somehow appropriate for a player who has failed to cut the mustard in 13 months at Old Trafford.
Jose Mourinho said we wouldn’t see the best of Sanchez until this season after his mid-winter move from Arsenal last January but, if anything, he has been even more disappointing this term.
He has scored just twice in 19 appearances, not good enough for the highest paid player at the club.
Tonight the 30-year-old forward is expected to be given another opportunity to start in the absence of Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.
Solskjaer admits there is only so much he can do to help Sanchez improve. But he believes in the player’s talent and insists that once another goal comes, many more will follow.
‘It’s one of those things,’ said Solskjaer, smacking one hand against the other. ‘You know that bottle of ketchup when it never comes, but when it suddenly comes there’s loads!
‘I think he’s a very good player. He’s very talented, but of course there’s only so many things you can sit down and talk about and tweak. If he could just get that goal I’m sure that would release his confidence. That’s what it’s about when you go through periods when you don’t perform up to your standard because we know there is a very, very good player there.
‘He’s a man of 30 but he can still play for many, many years. I’ve been here for two months with him and he’s been injured for the first part of it, so it’s unfair to just expect him to be at the top straight away.
‘I’m sure we’ll see the best of him before the end of the season.’
Solskjaer is relying on Sanchez after Martial and Lingard were injured in the Champions League defeat by Paris-Saint Germain. He pointed out that Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku led the attack when United won 3-1 at Arsenal in the last round and he is hoping for another big performance at Stamford Bridge.
‘You need the players to step up now and you expect that at Manchester United at the end of the season,’ he added. ‘They have had this little setback with the PSG game, maybe a reality check. Their pride has been hurt, but I’m sure they’ll bounce back.
‘ We beat Arsenal in the last round without Anthony and Rashy (Marcus Rashford), and now we’re without Anthony and Jesse. I’m sure we’ll conjure up something.’
Sanchez is fit to play despite also picking up a knock in the PSG game. The former Barcelona and Arsenal forward confirmed that he suffered a dead leg after colliding with a linesman while warming up on the touchline.
‘I went back to the dugout and said to Sergio Romero, “I’ve just been whacked and I’m about to go on”,’ said Sanchez.
‘I’ve got bruising but that’s not an excuse for not being on my game in the way that I normally am. I think a player like me has to show it right now. There is no time to lose, nothing.’