The Chilean’s struggles at Manchester United could easily end with a flourish, according to his caretaker-manager
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has likened Alexis Sanchez’s poor form at Manchester United to the agonising wait for ketchup to emerge from a bottle!
The Chilean attacker was ineffective once more as a substitute in Tuesday’s home Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain, leading caretaker-boss Solskjaer to proclaim that Sanchez needs to “find himself” out on the field of play.
But as United prepare for Monday’s FA Cup fifth-round trip to Chelsea the Norwegian has backed Sanchez to burst back to form soon, telling his post-match press conference that attempting to coax a performance out of the former Arsenal man reminds him of bashing a bottle of ketchup.
“He’s very talented, but of course there’s only so many things you can sit down and talk about and tweak,” said Solskjaer.
“If he could just get that goal I’m sure that would release his confidence. That’s what it’s about when you go through periods when you don’t perform up to your standard because we know there is a very, very good player there.
“It’s one of those things. You know that bottle of ketchup when it never comes, but when it suddenly comes there’s loads!
“When it comes, it comes. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
With Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard set to miss out for two to three weeks each with groin and hamstring issues respectively, Sanchez could well feature more prominently in the coming fixtures against the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and the return with PSG.
And Solskjaer admits he could do with the 30-year-old finding some form sooner rather than later.
“We need every player to perform to the best level. We are challenging to be top four, challenging against very, very good teams, so you need the players to step up now and you expect that at Manchester United at the end of the season. You always do well towards the end of the season.
“The players have had this little set back with the PSG game, maybe a reality check. Their pride has been hurt, and I’m sure they’ll bounce back on Monday.”
Meanwhile, Solskjaer has backed Paul Pogba despite his late sending-off against the French champions for a foul on Dani Alves when attempting to shield the ball.
“I know what his intentions were. He was trying to shield the ball, but it can look on VAR or TV like it’s a bad challenge, but Paul is one of them who uses his body really well. He’s unlucky to hit him there.
“For me it’s one of his strengths to shield players off and get away from people. But I’ve been speaking to him about how we move on from this.”
Moduyz
60
You can wait for another 10 years foer all we care. The tomato is stuck inside forever. The only way to get this harden sauce out is to break the bottle or throw it away into the bin. Likewise,....
AntoJaison
51
Meanwhile Solskjaer should find recipe to make this Chile sauce hot before its too late
davyquan
47
Sanchez the same tactics he was using in arsenal is the same he's doing in united only that arsenal is not strong as united and united have quality players than arsenal at arsenal he was eye marked guy but at united there's a like of pogba, Rashford, lingard and Martial how do you expect him to perform
emondorock
47
More like waiting for a vomit to happen after a night on the piss. This could be the worst thing that has happened to Sanchez...actually playing full games while others out with injury because if he doesnt take his chance and start to play well he might as well get a job with liberace at the piona bar.
ditclosyz
46
Had Mourinho said this people would want his head, but OGS can't do or say a thing wrong...Tuchel outsmarted OGS tacticly but no one cares, everyone just cares that the brats pogba, lindgaard and martial are happy and actually started doing their job.