Why Alexis Sanchez Struggling Against Leicester Shows Arsenal Must Buy a Striker
Arsenal’s draw with Leicester has left Gunners fans feeling deflated. In isolation, a point away to champions Leicester is no bad thing. However, in the broader context of an underwhelming start to the season, it has done little to brighten the mood. Arsene Wenger’s post-match comments have merely deepened the division between the manager and the increasingly disgruntled supporters.
There were positives to be drawn from this performance. An Arsenal side that shipped four goals against Liverpool managed to keep a clean sheet at the KC Stadium, with Laurent Koscielny and Rob Holding particularly impressive. Wenger must have been delighted to have Koscielny available again—and earlier than anticipated. Without the Frenchman’s timely interventions, Arsenal might well have lost this game.
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As for Holding, his early impact has been greater than anyone could have expected. When he was signed from League One Bolton, it was assumed he would primarily provide cover. However, a spate of defensive injuries saw him granted a first-team opportunity, and he has seized the chance in style.
Against Leicester, he was surprisingly named in the starting XI ahead of Calum Chambers, who has significantly more Premier League experience.
However, Holding looked encouragingly assured. Speaking to Arsenal.com after the game, Wenger enthused about his new recruit:
"I think he did remarkably well against top-class strikers today. For me he had an outstanding performance.
He’s 20 years old, he’s English and it’s a great reason to be happy. As long as players don’t cost a huge amount of money, people don’t give them any qualities.
We have to be stronger than that and just acknowledge how good he is. Koscielny added to our stability today and I’m very pleased with that. We still have to look around to strengthen our squad. Overall that’s what we tried to do.
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If Holding continues to progress at this rate, Arsenal fans won’t care what he cost. They could still do with the addition of a senior defender to provide depth and experience, but that should not detract from what an astute purchase Holding appears to be.
The bigger issue is Arsenal’s lack of attacking firepower. Wenger has spent the summer chasing attacking reinforcements, but thus far, he has failed to land anyone except Japanese forward Takuma Asano, who is unlikely to qualify for a work permit that would enable him to compete in the Premier League.
Arsenal have received positive news about the state of Danny Welbeck’s knee injury, but the England international is still unlikely to return before Christmas.
In the build-up to the Leicester game, Wenger insisted that Alexis Sanchez could play as Arsenal’s central striker. The Gunners boss told Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail:
"Is Sanchez a long-term solution through the middle? I think yes. I think it is worth to try as he has the quality to go behind.
On the flanks he uses a lot of energy by chasing back and I would like to use his energy sometimes a bit more efficiently by going behind the defenders as he is a good finisher.
He has similar qualities to Luis Suarez. He is technically top.
"
However, on the evidence of the first two league fixtures of the season, Alexis is a long way from being ready to shoulder the burden of being Arsenal’s starting centre-forward. It’s an idea Wenger has toyed with in the past without any great success, and this latest experiment also looks doomed to fail.
The problem is that Alexis is perennially attracted to the ball. Wenger wants his star attacker to focus on running in-behind the back four, but desire to be at the heart of the action takes over. Against Leicester, he frequently ended up dropping deep or wide to get involved with Arsenal’s build-up play, leaving them without a discernible option in the centre.
With Theo Walcott now restored to the right flank, Arsenal are desperately short of centre-forwards. The one they are likely to call upon regularly, Olivier Giroud, has shown in the past that he is prone to bouts of profligacy.
Wenger has previously cited Chuba Akpom and Yaya Sanogo as potential options in that role, but Gunners fans must have winced as he did so. Neither of those players are suitable for a club of Arsenal’s supposed ambition.
Internal solutions are not going to cut it. Arsenal simply have to go out and buy a new striker. However, Wenger continued to insist on Arsenal.com that spending should not always be the first course of action:
"If I buy you tomorrow for £45m that means I’ve bought you for £45m, have I done well? Yes, if I listen to you, I will have done well because I spent the money. That is not a quality, buying a top player, that is different - and we are ready to do that. I spend £300m if I find the player and if I have the £300m.
Not to forget as well that we are a club who has 600 employees who we need to have a responsible attitude for as well. It’s a bit surprising that you come out of football games and you don’t speak about football, you have to speak about money. I believe that you have to respect the players who play, the performance that has been done today by those teams and if you find players who can strengthen our team, then we are not reluctant to spend the money.
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In many respects, he is right. Spending money on a new forward will not necessarily be a panacea. However, Wenger’s stubborn rhetoric is beginning to grate with the fans. It’s ridiculous to hear a club of Arsenal’s enormous wealth talking about the need to ensure all 600 employees are paid.
Identifying a top-class centre-forward in what remains of the window will not be easy. However, Wenger would surely be better served by signing a specialist than continuing to try and convert Alexis. It seems the Chilean’s transition would take a significant investment of time—and having dropped five points already, that’s time Arsenal can not afford.
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