Oh, Alexis Sanchez, no, just no.
Sanchez came into Manchester United’s opening Premier League game against Leicester City on Friday night after a summer spent – unlike most of his teammates – relaxing and recovering for the season ahead.
Sanchez’ country – Chile to those who are not aware – did not qualify for the recent World Cup in Russia, meaning that Sanchez had the summer off for the first time in a hell of a long time.
He had time to chill, hang out with his dogs, drink mate, hang out with his dogs, go for runs, hang out with his dogs and hang out with his dogs.
As such, it was expected that Sanchez would be effervescent against Leicester City, sharper and more focused than his teammates and opponents ahead of a crucial campaign for Jose Mourinho’s team.
Unfortunately, that’s not exactly how things went for Sanchez.
Despite being full of life, bounding around the pitch like Atom and Humber in a South American dog food ad, Sanchez was off kilter all night, unable to properly make the desired impact throughout.
His inability to truly imprint his influence on the match was illustrated, more than anything else, by the fact that the Chilean gave away possession more than any other Manchester United player on the night.
In total, Sanchez gave the ball away 23 times against the Foxes.
To be fair to Sanchez, the season is only young, but he does have previous with this sort of thing, as his performance away to Crystal Palace last season (he gave the ball away 19 times) suggests.
Alexis Sánchez lost possession more times (23) than any other Man Utd player against Leicester.
Even José Mourinho was getting angry. 😳 pic.twitter.com/dOtjAftD9e
— Squawka (@Squawka) August 10, 2018
