At what point do we start to label Alexis Sanchez a Man United flop?

By Daniel Storey

In the climate of melodrama and hyperbole, it’s nice to take a more measured approach to appraising high-profile players. But at what point do we start to label Alexis Sanchez as a Manchester United flop?

If we were told by Jose Mourinho that the Chilean would be far better after a full pre-season at the club, the opposite is true.

Sanchez has had three shots on target so far this season in the Premier League. His arrival was intended to precipitate a vast improvement in Manchester United’s attacking cohesion, but also give them speed and directness on the counter-attack. So far, none of that has happened.

Sanchez is comfortably United’s worst attacking player, and has failed to complete 90 minutes since the opening night of the season.

Speak to Arsenal supporters and they will tell you Sanchez was in decline long before his sale in January. If Mourinho and Manchester United assumed that a change of scenery — and new challenge — would stir him, it has not proved that way so far. The highest-paid player in the Premier League is severely underperforming.

Maddison will be England’s next debutant

“It is a dream of mine to play for England, it always has been since I was a very young boy."

James Maddison plays down @England chances after call-up to U21 squad: https://t.co/0eCY03VqNX pic.twitter.com/GRHxE6Tsnb

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) September 4, 2018

Gareth Southgate made the understandable call to reward the majority of his World Cup performers with a call-up to England’s first squad of 2018/19, but there is a queue of new hopefuls intent on usurping the familiar faces. Will Hughes, Mason Mount, Ryan Sessegnon, Demarai Gray, and Callum Wilson will all be under Southgate’s watchful eye.

But James Maddison has the best case of all. The Football League is gaining a well-earned reputation as the perfect breeding ground for young talent, a place where they can reasonably expect to get regular football and prove themselves as potential Premier League stars.

Maddison could easily have waited for a higher-profile destination than Leicester City, but in doing so he stuck to the same principle: Without regular starts, progress is impossible.

Maddison has been one of the stars of this nascent season, three goals and an assist in the first six top-flight matches of his career. The confidence is startling, but so too is the composure.

Keep it up, and Southgate will not be able to ignore him.

Burnley release the shackles, and the pressure

Supporters had begun to get concerned. Burnley’s form before September’s international break could loosely be attributed to the disrupted preseason and Thursday evening football that Europa League participation demands.

But their performance against Wolves immediately following a two-week break rather negated that excuse.

Sean Dyche was struggling for answers. “We’re in a bit of fog at the moment, we collectively have to get our way out of that,” he said after the loss to Wolves. “We’ve been here before, we know it changes quickly, but we’ve got to work to make it change.”

A week later, the mood had changed. Bournemouth had seven more shots than their hosts, five more corners, and as many shots on target, but Burnley took their chances emphatically to record their biggest top-flight victory since 1970 and move off the bottom of the table. Dyche will hope that the fog has been lifted.

Benitez shows mettle to prove his point

The presence of Mike Ashley at Selhurst Park provoked a number of choice chants from the travelling Newcastle United supporters, but manager Rafael Benitez saw this as the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the limitations placed upon Newcastle by Ashley’s parsimony.

Newcastle should be looking to outclass clubs of Crystal Palace’s level. But on Saturday Benitez could only instruct his side to frustrate their hosts. Defensive solidity in the face of adversity remains his forte, and Newcastle ground out their second 0-0 draw — and second point — of the season.

Buying expensive players should not be the only strategy to improving a team, but Ashley should still be embarrassed by the brakes he has placed on a club that had the 21st highest revenue in Europe last season.

Benitez’s starting XI on Saturday — at full-strength — cost Newcastle less than £50m (€55.6m) in transfer fees. That’s the same as Palace, with a far lower revenue, spent on their two central defenders and left-back.

Manchester United’s Achilles heel

Under Jose Mourinho, Manchester United have now dropped 12 points in 13 matches against promoted clubs. During that time, they have scored only 1.3 goals per game.

Under Pep Guardiola, Manchester City have scored 2.2 goals per game against the same teams. Over the same time period, Liverpool — who gained a reputation for struggling against low-ranking league opposition — have scored goals against promoted clubs at a rate of 2.6 per game.

Liverpool’s attack, scoring goals at double the rate of Manchester United against the same weaker teams, epitomises the current difference between the two clubs. One is capable of blowing away the opposition; the other is still treading water.

Quantity over quality with Chelsea’s passing

Against West Ham yesterday, Jorginho broke the record for the number of completed passes in a Premier League game since Opta began collecting data in 2003/04, with 180. But before you stand to applaud, Jorginho also gave the ball away semi-regularly and failed to provide enough penetration with his passing. A metronome is not always the most useful instrument.

The one early issue in Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea is the lack of creativity in midfield. With N’Golo Kante as the most advanced midfielder in a trio also containing Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic, there is plenty of energy but too little invention, particularly without a No 10.

Are they too reliant on the individual brilliance of Eden Hazard to avoid sterile domination?