Alexis Sanchez is one of the most petulant winners around.
Football loves winners.
There’s an obsession with people who display a “winning mentality”; the people who can’t stand to lose and want to win everything, no matter what. A player can be as whiny and as sulky as he wants, so long as he has the ‘drive to win’.
Alexis Sanchez is one of those winners.
There’s no doubt that he holds a high standard for himself and for his team mates. He wants to win, and anyone not showing the same level of desire as he does needs to know this fact. Hence, he can complain as much as he likes and get away with it, much in the same way Thierry Henry or Dennis Bergkamp could do the same.
Yet, there’s a fine line between being a winner and a bad loser. A winner hates losing but he doesn’t sulk when he doesn’t get his way. A bad loser hates losing and lets everyone know about it, and that’s what Alexis does. He lets everyone, from his team mates to the cameraman sitting up at the top of the stadium, know that he’s not happy.
He’s petulant, and it rubs people the wrong way.
You could make a gallery of pictures showing Alexis crouching down, head in his hands as Arsenal slip to another humiliating defeat. He’s not going around trying to gee his team mates up, nor is he chewing anyone out.
It’s a completely self-absorbed action and one that garners him a lot of undue sympathy. It communicates that he’s not the problem – everyone else is.
- LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – AUGUST 27: Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal reacts during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield on August 27, 2017 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
- Arsenal’s Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez complains to the linesman during the English Premier League football match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal at the Selhurst Park in London on February 21, 2015. Arsenal won the match 1-2. (GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images)
- Alexis sick. Picture: Telegraph
- Chile’s forward Alexis Sanchez reacts after missing a chance of goal during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier football match against Argentina at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 23, 2017.
- Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal.
- LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 07: Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal reacts at half time during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 second leg match between Arsenal FC and FC Bayern Muenchen at Emirates Stadium on March 7, 2017 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
- (JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/Getty Images)
- (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
- Arsenal’s Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez reacts during the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen football match between FC Bayern Munich and Arsenal in Munich, southern Germany, on February 15, 2017.
- LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 01: Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal goes down injured during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium on January 1, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
- LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 01: Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal reacts during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium on January 1, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
- LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 26: Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal reacts during the Premier League match between Arsenal and West Bromwich Albion at Emirates Stadium on December 26, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
For me, the moment Alexis crossed the line from winner to sulky loser was in the 4-0 victory over Swansea last season. He was subbed off with just over 10 minutes to go so Danny Welbeck could get some minutes. The result was secured, and he had just scored a goal. Yet, his reaction was to sit on his own, put the hood of his coat up and sulk. While the commentators tried to play it off as him wanting to play all the time, I just saw a giant man-child.
It’s a shame because you want winners in the team, but you don’t want players who oversell it, either. Rather than encourage his team mates to improve and get to his level, it alienates them.
The next few months now will be interesting as we see just how Alexis responds to not getting his move to City.
We could see a professional player, eager to play football no matter where it is and who he’s playing with. Or we could see a visibly upset player who could throw a tantrum at any minute.
Whatever he does, he’ll have the support of the press and the pundits.
He may not get that same support from the Arsenal fans.