The last month has been a tough one for Manchester United. With Jose Mourinho sacked by the mid of December, interim manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer took the shackles off the play. United sealed a sixth successive win against Tottenham at Wembley. But Chilean forward, Alexis Sanchez hasn’t seen much action.
Solksjaer believes Alexis Sanchez is on a mission to revitalise his career after backing the Manchester United forward to put a miserable past 12 months behind him and start the new year with a flourish. The Chilean has made his comeback from injury against Newcastle at St James’ Park on Wednesday night after more than a month out with a hamstring tear. Although he made a nice assist for Lukaku to make it 2-0 in the FA cup tie against Reading. Sanchez although did not play for 90 minutes on the fear of straining the hamstring.
Solksjaer praised a lot when he was asked about Alexis return, “I think he is a player that would benefit from the interchanging, the rotation, the movement,” Solksjaer said. “The more chances you create, the more times you get the ball into the final third. He’ll be an asset for us.”
Solksjaer recently described Sanchez as a “workaholic”, having been impressed with his attitude in training, and he believes the Chilean will suit the style of play he is encouraging at Old Trafford. He has been one of the best players at his former club Arsenal and can really be one of the key players in this squad, if he can fit into the new manager’s style of play.
Although Sanchez’s return is highly hyped by the fans and the media, it remains a question how long he can play. Well placed sources at Old Trafford have claimed they have not seen Sanchez this buoyant since the week he joined United. He had become an increasingly withdrawn and isolated figure in the final months under Mourinho. With Rashford, Lingard, Martial all dancing to the tunes of The United Way with Pogba pulling strings from the back, it remains a question that how Solksjaer will fit veteran Alexis Sanchez into the system.
Sanchez was bought swapping on Armenian international, Henrikh Mkhitaryan who fell out of place at Mourinho’s system. He performed in the City match and scored the winning goal at Spurs but was largely ineffective elsewhere in the campaign. The new season saw him falling out of favor with Mourinho. Now when conditions are lighting up and United back to winning ways, Sanchez would like to fit in the team with some good performances or it won’t be long that he sees the end at The Red Devils.
The new boss has brought about a major change at the club, in terms of their player and has got them winning. Despite that, the main test will come when he loses his first game, as they are still undefeated. The team from Manchester will be facing off against Arsenal in the FA Cup at the weekend, which will be the real test for them now and it will be interesting to see whether Sanchez starts that game at the Emirates or not.
