The top five most damning stats on Alexis Sanchez’s start to life at Man Utd

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When Alexis Sanchez joined Manchester United in January, it was supposed to be the solution to the club’s creative problems. 

The Chilean maestro was the talisman for Arsenal during his time at the Emirates, scoring 80 goals in 166 games in all competitions and helping the club to win two FA Cups in the process.

However, since making his January move north, Sanchez has been nothing short of a damp squib and has only managed a meagre three goals in 23 appearances across all competitions for the Red Devils.

It would be unfair to place all of the blame for his loss of form solely on Sanchez – his interceptions per-90 minutes at Arsenal last season stood at just 0.4, while it jumped to 1.1 after joining United and stands at 0.8 so far this season.

Sanchez’s successful tackles per-90 minutes also jumped from 1.2 to 1.8 last season after moving to Old Trafford and currently stands at 1.9. Jose Mourinho is obviously tasking the 29-year-old with a more rounded role than that which Arsene Wenger had given him.

However, first and foremost, Sanchez is a forward and his main duty to the team is to both score and create goals.

The Chilean is not delivering in that most important of roles and here are the top five stats which underline just how much he has struggled at the Theatre of Dreams.

5. Sanchez’s goals are taking an age to come around

Kicking us off is a stat that isn’t entirely Sanchez’s fault – hence the position in this ranking- but still doesn’t make good reading for the 121-time Chilean international.

With Sanchez waiting for an average of 689.5 minutes, more than Romelu Lukaku (149.78) and Marcos Rashford (206.67) combined, for each of his three goals to come around since joining Manchester United, you might be better served searching for flying pigs.

And, even more embarrassingly for Sanchez, defender Chris Smalling has outscored him since January and waited for an average of just 385.5 minutes for each of his goals.

4. Sanchez is struggling to keep hold of the ball

Since joining Manchester United in January, Sanchez has lost possession an incredible 347 times, with only four players in the Premier League losing it more, one of which is goalkeeper Ben Foster.

In fairness to Sanchez, he is a player who is expected to take risks and has attempted the sixth-most dribbles (74) in the Premier League during his time at Manchester United. However, this only accounts for a fraction of the times he has lost the ball and shows that his risks are not coming off.

3. Sanchez has gone 831 minutes without scoring for Man United

Any hopes of a rejuvenated Sanchez after the recent pre-season have been dashed and the forward has arguably returned to action in worse form than last campaign.

The longest he went without scoring during his time at Arsenal was 897 minutes, so we know he can bounce back, but those green shoots of recovery are proving pretty difficult to spot at the moment.

2. His shots per-90 minutes rate has nosedived

During his final months at Arsenal, Sanchez was averaging 4.1 shots per-90 minutes and was very much the focal point of their attack.

However, since his move to Man United, that has dropped off significantly. Sanchez was averaging just half a shot per-90 immediately after joining the 20-time English champions and has only managed 2.4 this season. He is just outright failing to influence games where it counts the most, also missing four of his five big chances since joining the club – including an infamous open goal against Newcastle United last season.

1. Half of Sanchez’s starts have seen him substituted off

Seventeen of Sanchez’s Premier League appearances for Manchester United have the Chilean play a starting role but have also seen him replaced by a substitute.

Of those 17 league games, Man United have failed to win six, showing that they have often needed big players to step up – Sanchez being taken off when United have needed a spark, as opposed to being the spark himself.

The post The top five most damning stats on Alexis Sanchez’s start to life at Man Utd appeared first on Squawka News.



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