[sherrinford]

We have no one better for the LW? Questionable to say the least, but we have no one for the RW. Mata and Lingard don’t bring even close to what Martial and Rashford bring to our left. Sanchez has played on the RW through out his career, at a high level also, Martial and Rashford have some 20 games there combined.

Our supposed best attacker needs to play where our team needs him, until he shows anything worthy to the degree that we handicap our team of an entire wing so he plays in his preferred position.

Martial/Rashford on the left and Sanchez on the right would be much better than the other way around. Simply because Sanchez has showed he can be as good on the RW as on the LW, Martial and Rashford haven’t shown the same versatility.

He hasn’t shown he can be as good on the right at all. He can’t. He has played there throughout his career but not to his true level. He was okay if underwhelming on the right, but he is older now and we are not a fantastic Barcelona side. We don’t need him on the right, we need him in a position where he can make an impact.

That’s nonsense.

It really isn’t. All of them can be stationed on the right, but excel in other areas.

 

[sherrinford]

Stats are all I need to disprove what you're saying. How can you compare playing Sanchez on the right to playing Martial or Rashford there after considering what he's been able to do from that side? The way you're talking, one would think he's been shite whenever he's played there. If that's the case, how has he managed similarly good stats on the right to the left?

Wenger played him there 25 times, apparently.

I’m considering how the difference in Sanchez’s performances on the left and right are mirrored in Martial and Rashford. All three perform markedly better from the left. Alexis was not shite on the right, just underwhelming considering what he is capable of and displayed in other positions.

Those stats are useless. They tell you how many times he scored or met the daft set of conditions to be labelled with an ‘assist’, and nothing more. So basic. Do you really think that is enough to make an accurate judgement on performance? Is it impossible for someone who has not scored or assisted to have had a greater game than someone who has?

 

[MAME DIOUF 32]

Stick him out on the right. If he's still shit, he's still shit, but at least he won't be taking a place from someone who's better in the position, because we don't have a right-sided player.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Should have had an assist when he laid it on a plate for lukaku.

 

[0le]

I do sympathise with him. You can see he puts the effort in. It reminds me of Rooney in his last few season. His mind is willing but his body isn't responding as it once was. If he continues this form, we will have to accept we've made a mistake in signing him and move him on. But have faith, things can change quickly in football, so give it a bit more time...

 

[Hitchez]

I do sympathise with him. You can see he puts the effort in. It reminds me of Rooney in his last few season. His mind is willing but his body isn't responding as it once was. If he continues this form, we will have to accept we've made a mistake in signing him and move him on. But have faith, things can change quickly in football, so give it a bit more time...

I'm a tad worried about this. The effort is there and so is the willingness but I'm not convinced he can deliver consistent attacking performances that we desperately need from him. Really hope I'm wrong.

 

[Bastian]

I still think he'll find his feet with us this season, but if he has another season like last season he'll need to be moved on in the summer even if that means subsidising the move because we can't have a player earning double, triple or even quadruple what the others are earning if he's not a difference maker. That would be Rooney situation all over again, but with Wayne he at least created history before he turned to shite.

 

[Kraftwerker]

Quite funny that he was so vocal about wanting more world class signings in the summer.

Careful what you wish for Alexis...

Anyway, it’s one bad game. I’m still holding out hope that a proper pre-season and 6 months with the club will start to bring out the best in him.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He was poor last night, his touch wasn’t there at all. However, he is still a different player than the team and you see his frustration with lack of runs. Still, assist for the penalty and should have had one more when our donkey striker fluffed a sitter. That’s something to bring into our next game at least

What an assist. He was just terrible, no other way of putting it.

And our "Donkey" striker regularly out performs him.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I'd actually love it if he ran around less and was more/actually efficient with what he does on the pitch. Presently, he's like a drunk Park Ji Sung.

 

[kthanksbye]

To me it looks like he's feeling the burden of his wages, and the he thinks he has to carry the team and be the difference maker every game. Hope he calms down and realizes that he cannot do that everytime he gets the ball. His first touch is being effected because he's in a hurry to do the next thing. The two passes he under-hit because he was thinking about making a run for the return ball.
He'll be fine.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

We really don't do well with South Americans it seems.

Bar Anderson, I can't name one who has been a roaring success.

Anderson success was roaring through the buffet

 

[sherrinford]

I do sympathise with him. You can see he puts the effort in. It reminds me of Rooney in his last few season. His mind is willing but his body isn't responding as it once was. If he continues this form, we will have to accept we've made a mistake in signing him and move him on. But have faith, things can change quickly in football, so give it a bit more time...

He was looking razor sharp in pre-season though, full of assured touches and passes, and his ability to wriggle out of all manner of difficult situations with those familiar feints and turns. All that quality escaped him against Leicester and it was so disappointing.

There were still isolated moments - two nice flicks to enable counters in the first half, two utterly brilliant switches of play in the second half as well as two sensible simple passes to teammates in great shooting positions. Really, this is enough to have made a mark on the game, if it wasn’t for the fact that those instances punctuated a general performance littered with poor decisions, sloppy or just plain awful execution of passes, and weak attempts to maintain possession under pressure.

He picked up where he left off, competitively, but showed his sharpness intact in the friendlies. So I certainly wouldn’t say his body is now beyond top level football, though he is older and not quite the same athlete overall. Is it the position? I think playing up front in pre-season allowed him to moderate his workload and made a difference to how fresh, sharp and strong he was on the ball.

 

[Kidders]

I am not claiming to have known how his arrival would turn out, BUT I did wonder why we were buying someone to play In a position we were OK with (Martial & Rashford) at the time, I guess 'getting one over City' clouded people's minds and I like many others imagined Jose would make it work, I did actually think that he would replace Mata on the right, and still do to this day, against Leicester he was back to running around like a headless chicken (someone said like a drunk Ji Sung ), in the area he plays he should be working closely with Shaw & Pogba yet he was'nt on the same wave length as Shaw and seemed to use Pogba as a last resort, choosing to blunder through tackles rather than play through them with short passing.
It would be ridiculous to say he is'nt a team player, but ATM he is'nt playing within the team, maybe he thinks he has to be the main man every game, or that he needs to justify his wages, but one way or another he does'nt seem to have the trust or understanding of his teammates, (it does'nt help when he constantly berates them when a pass goes astray or they make a wrong decision).

No one is bigger than the team, and for the good of the team I see Sanchez with 3 options
1/ he plays from the right.
2/ we play with two central strikers. 4-3-1-2 or 3-5-2
3/ he becomes the most costly sub in history.

 

[Marcelinho87]

We really don't do well with South Americans it seems.

Bar Anderson, I can't name one who has been a roaring success.

Anderson success was roaring through the buffet

I almost bit, then I saw.

 

[Fracture90]

Pretty shambolic performance from him, he had few moments of inspiration (pass for Mata and one for Lukakus' chance as well) but other than that pretty dogshiit for a player on his wages.

 

[Kostov]

He hasn’t shown he can be as good on the right at all. He can’t. He has played there throughout his career but not to his true level. He was okay if underwhelming on the right, but he is older now and we are not a fantastic Barcelona side. We don’t need him on the right, we need him in a position where he can make an impact.



It really isn’t. All of them can be stationed on the right, but excel in other areas.

We need him where the team benefits the most. Since the two most promising attackers play at LW and we have only Mata and Lingard for the other side, the guy who has played almost half of his career games at RW should play there.

Everything else is total bullshit. Even De Gea can be stationed on the right according to you, and it would be the same.

Alexis can play at RW to a higher level than anyone else in the team, of course that’s only my opinion and Wenger’s among others, but since you are so adamant...

 

[SouthPredators4]

I just think playing on the left and being so far away from goal isn't catering to his strengths. Even my Arsenal friends claim he used to irritate the fans with his extremely wasteful possession in the final 3rd. That being said, i still think we should flank Lukaku with Martial and Sanchez on the left and right respectively. Or even play him as a second striker.

 

[Fracture90]

We need him where the team benefits the most. Since the two most promising attackers play at LW and we have only Mata and Lingard for the other side, the guy who has played almost half of his career games at RW should play there.

Everything else is total bullshit. Even De Gea can be stationed on the right according to you, and it would be the same.

Alexis can play at RW to a higher level than anyone else in the team, of course that’s only my opinion and Wenger’s among others, but since you are so adamant...

Gotta agree with this.

 

[Powderfinger]

Alexis played on the right only very rarely for Arsenal. Transfermarkt has him playing there a total of 26 times over the last four years, whereas he played on the left or through the middle 159 times.

This switch has gone along with some changes in his game as he has aged. When he was younger he was a more explosive player that didn't look to get on the ball so much, so playing RW, running behind the defense, and beating men to the outside in order to fire in shots and pullbacks was a big part of his repertoire. He is a smarter, better shooting, but less explosive player now and LW suits him because it allows him to cut in to shoot or pass on his right as well as to make delayed runs into the center of the box and meet crosses with his right foot. Put him on the RW and those moves that have become his bread and butter are hard to pull off, while he lacks the physical burst to replicate his old bread and butter on that side by running past men on the outside.

He played there a lot earlier in this career but you'd be taking him out of his comfort zone to ask him to switch back there permanently and you would be unlikely to get the best out of him.

 

[Fracture90]

Alexis played on the right only very rarely for Arsenal. Transfermarkt has him playing there a total of 26 times over the last four years, whereas he played on the left or through the middle 159 times.

This switch has gone along with some changes in his game as he has aged. When he was younger he was a more explosive player that didn't look to get on the ball so much, so playing RW, running behind the defense, and beating men to the outside in order to fire in shots and pullbacks was a big part of his repertoire. He is a smarter, better shooting, but less explosive player now and LW suits him because it allows him to cut in to shoot or pass on his right as well as to make delayed runs into the center of the box and meet crosses with his right foot. Put him on the RW and those moves that have become his bread and butter are hard to pull off, while he lacks the physical burst to replicate his old bread and butter on that side by running past men on the outside.

He played there a lot earlier in this career but you'd be taking him out of his comfort zone to ask him to switch back there permanently and you would be unlikely to get the best out of him.

Well buddy not like Mata is a beast on the RW either.

 

[::sonny::]

Martial is better than him

 

[Wayne's World]

I'm a big fan of Alexis and still am but just noticed he's pretty much lost his ability to beat a man since he's joined United. Now I'm hoping that's more down to tactics but I do find it concerning a bit

 

[Jazz]

Alexis played on the right only very rarely for Arsenal. Transfermarkt has him playing there a total of 26 times over the last four years, whereas he played on the left or through the middle 159 times.

This switch has gone along with some changes in his game as he has aged. When he was younger he was a more explosive player that didn't look to get on the ball so much, so playing RW, running behind the defense, and beating men to the outside in order to fire in shots and pullbacks was a big part of his repertoire. He is a smarter, better shooting, but less explosive player now and LW suits him because it allows him to cut in to shoot or pass on his right as well as to make delayed runs into the center of the box and meet crosses with his right foot. Put him on the RW and those moves that have become his bread and butter are hard to pull off, while he lacks the physical burst to replicate his old bread and butter on that side by running past men on the outside.

He played there a lot earlier in this career but you'd be taking him out of his comfort zone to ask him to switch back there permanently and you would be unlikely to get the best out of him.

We ain't getting the best out of him at the moment on the left (in fact we're getting f**ck all), so we may as well try him on the right, it can't be any worse.

Personally, I think he should be playing up top. Yet again, his composure seems to have deserted him so far in the final third, I don't even know if that's a good solution as well. We'll just have to see.

 

[Powderfinger]

We ain't getting the best out of him at the moment on the left (in fact we're getting f**ck all), so we may as well try him on the right, it can't be any worse.

Personally, I think he should be playing up top. Yet again, his composure seems to have deserted him so far in the final third, I don't even know if that's a good solution as well. We'll just have to see.

He has been pretty poor for United but he’s still a top top player and he’s not that old yet. Give him some time in his favored position and he’ll likely come good. Stick him on the right while he’s in the middle of this funk and he might never come around.

 

[Jazz]

He has been pretty poor for United but he’s still a top top player and he’s not that old yet. Give him some time in his favored position and he’ll likely come good. Stick him on the right while he’s in the middle of this funk and he might never come around.

We haven't got time to wait for him. We have younger prospects who weren't doing a bad job there. I don't want their development stunted for 30 year old on massive undeserved wages taking his time to get going. That's not what the club has invested in.

Anyway, let's see how he goes in the next couple of games. Maybe he'll come good, hopefully!

 

[Sigma]

We really don't do well with South Americans it seems.

Bar Anderson, I can't name one who has been a roaring success.

Anderson success was roaring through the buffet

Rafael, Valencia, Tevez.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Still, he pretty much won the pen and if Lukaku scored that chance which he should have that would have been an assist for him. I still trust him to come good.

 

[Litch]

I like him and he'll influence games but Christ he's frustrating to watch. He's not alone as compared to the other top 5 teams, we seem to give the ball away an awful lot....

 

[breakout67]

Fecking hell. The comments in here are ridiculously harsh! He did a lot of good things tonight, worked his bollox off and heavily involved throughout. Wasn’t a great performance but was perfectly fine.

His passes were a bit short, but did a few cross field ones which were quite good. Also set up the best chance of the game.

I'd say he was 6/10, when Rooney had a bad game he contributes nothing. Sanchez contributed significantly but was just very loose with his passing.

 

[::sonny::]

He is getting old and can’t beat a man no more

 

[Fracture90]

He is getting old and can’t beat a man no more

And he's on 400k per week if reports are too be believed.

 

[luke511]

Fergie would've spotted his decline from a mile away, he was looking shit the half season before we signed him as well. Way too hesitant in his decisions, disrupts the fluidity of our attack and loves a good moan as well. Worst signing in a long time.

 

[Laurentiu amt]

Wenger, don't care about the 92 class, we need someone with experience and a guy capable to do his god damn job, not some class of 92 romantics

 

[VanHaal'sRedArmy]

The longer this Pogba saga rolls on the more I hate this signing.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Rafael, Valencia, Tevez.

Nibs

 

[sherrinford]

We need him where the team benefits the most. Since the two most promising attackers play at LW and we have only Mata and Lingard for the other side, the guy who has played almost half of his career games at RW should play there.

Everything else is total bullshit. Even De Gea can be stationed on the right according to you, and it would be the same.

Alexis can play at RW to a higher level than anyone else in the team, of course that’s only my opinion and Wenger’s among others, but since you are so adamant...

Yes and the team will not benefit most from having him on the right. The notion that Sanchez can play right wing to a higher level than anyone else is very debatable, given how he has developed and adapted. I would agree that Sanchez has put in greater past performances on the right than Martial or Rashford - that doesn’t mean he will now. You were very unsure of the idea that Sanchez is our best left winger - are you saying that Martial and Rashford have outperformed him in that position, historically? Sanchez’s performances on the left are far superior to his performances on the right, over his career. Even if he does provide a better option on the right than any other candidate in our squad, it would eliminate the possibility of getting the true Alexis Sanchez in a United shirt. What you are proposing is to nullify Sanchez in order to get Martial or Rashford in the line up, a potentially heavy price. If he was going to hit top form out wide for us it would have to be from the left, during which he would provide more than either of the other two there and that would negate any potential (and slight) loss of quality on the right.

Really we are talking small margins here, but playing Sanchez from the right is not the ‘obvious’ thing to do and it’s not going to balance the team. We have no-one, at all, who can shine from that side, including Alexis. And yes, we have more than one player who can play from the left with the required calibre. We could perhaps put our attackers to better use if we use a player in the hole (Sanchez, for me, being the prime candidate for this role too) as that would allow us to use three of our forwards in roles they excel in as opposed to just two, but there would still be an underwhelming performer on the right and it would mean we then underutilise our strong depth in midfield.

At this moment in time, I would settle for Lingard on the right as he brings movement and direct running to the side which we sorely need, and we frankly have better players for the other positions he could potentially play in. And I would play Sanchez at no.10/ second striker to reduce his workload as best it can be and keep him higher and fresher, to stagger the positioning of the three central players - Pereira, Pogba, Fred, Herrera and obviously Matic all like the play in front of them, none of them look to occupy higher spaces - and to allow Rashford and Martial a suitable way into the side.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He is getting old and can’t beat a man no more

He's really lost that acceleration he used to have.

I'm a big fan of Alexis and still am but just noticed he's pretty much lost his ability to beat a man since he's joined United. Now I'm hoping that's more down to tactics but I do find it concerning a bit

I doubt it has been since he joined united. As far as I know, he was sub par throughout last season.

 

[Kostov]

Yes and the team will not benefit most from having him on the right. The notion that Sanchez can play right wing to a higher level than anyone else is very debatable, given how he has developed and adapted. I would agree that Sanchez has put in greater past performances on the right than Martial or Rashford - that doesn’t mean he will now. You were very unsure of the idea that Sanchez is our best left winger - are you saying that Martial and Rashford have outperformed him in that position, historically? Sanchez’s performances on the left are far superior to his performances on the right, over his career. Even if he does provide a better option on the right than any other candidate in our squad, it would eliminate the possibility of getting the true Alexis Sanchez in a United shirt. What you are proposing is to nullify Sanchez in order to get Martial or Rashford in the line up, a potentially heavy price. If he was going to hit top form out wide for us it would have to be from the left, during which he would provide more than either of the other two there and that would negate any potential (and slight) loss of quality on the right.

Who do you think we have that is better on the right? Yeah I am unsure of the idea about Alexis being our best LW, football isn't played based on historically performances. Martial and Rashford have shown they are very capable LW worthy of investing time into developing their talent, and they can surpass Alexis's level at whatever position. And correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Alexis mainly play upfront for Arsenal? That's without checking stats, so I'm not sure.

And let me put it this way, getting the true Alexis Sanchez should not be of greater priority than developing world class talents like Martial and Rashford who could potentially offer that same level if not higher service for a longer period. It's simple logic, we have much more to gain from them than from Alexis in the long term. It might have been different if Alexis came and lit up the scene, but he has been appalling most often than not, so putting him on the right where we don't have much to lose, is very reasonable.

Really we are talking small margins here, but playing Sanchez from the right is not the ‘obvious’ thing to do and it’s not going to balance the team. We have no-one, at all, who can shine from that side, including Alexis. And yes, we have more than one player who can play from the left with the required calibre. We could perhaps put our attackers to better use if we use a player in the hole (Sanchez, for me, being the prime candidate for this role too) as that would allow us to use three of our forwards in roles they excel in as opposed to just two, but there would still be an underwhelming performer on the right and it would mean we then underutilise our strong depth in midfield.

I know we don't have a specialist RW, and I agree, but since no one ever though of addressing that issue I suggest swapping Sanchez is the best solution. That change of formation should be a possibility, because having 3 of Alexis, Lukaku, Martial and Rashford is much better than only two of them.

At this moment in time, I would settle for Lingard on the right as he brings movement and direct running to the side which we sorely need, and we frankly have better players for the other positions he could potentially play in. And I would play Sanchez at no.10/ second striker to reduce his workload as best it can be and keep him higher and fresher, to stagger the positioning of the three central players - Pereira, Pogba, Fred, Herrera and obviously Matic all like the play in front of them, none of them look to occupy higher spaces - and to allow Rashford and Martial a suitable way into the side.

No, just no. Movement and direct running is just not good enough for that position at the highest level. Lingard isn't good enough with the ball, gets dispossessed too easily, weak in duels and very inconsistent in his finishing. I like Jesse's improvement over the last year and hope he gets lot of playing time, but he should not be a starter at RW, we handicap our attack far too much.

 

[Listar]

What formation should we use to accommodate a front two of Lukaku and Sanchez that can also include Martial in the starting lineup.

Would a 4-3-3 work?

Martial-------Sanchez------Lukaku

---------Pogba--------Fred--------

----------------Matic---------------

Shaw---Lindelof----Bailey---Dalot