Manchester United Chilean forward, Alexis Sanchez did not beat about the bush when discussing why Jose Mourinho’s time at Manchester United ended abruptly. Sanchez, 30, spoke with the BBC alongside Ander Herrera before United’s FA Cup last 16 clash at Chelsea on Monday.
Speaking to Spanish reporter Guillem Balague, the Chilean forward gave his extremely honest opinion on why it went wrong for Mourinho. “I’ll tell you personally. I say things as they are and in my opinion, Mourinho is one of the best coaches in the world. In the way that he coaches, how he studies videos, the way he goes about things,” Sanchez said.
“But, then within the group there was that feeling that you were in the team then out. Sometimes I did not play, then I did, then I did not and as a player you lose confidence, each player lost their confidence, do you understand?”
“And then an atmosphere was created that was very… confusing. Sometimes I’m playing well and I score a goal and he took me off. And I’d say ‘I love football, I love football.’ I have played football since I was five and if I have the ball taken away from me, it’s as if I love my joy.”
In a nutshell: Mourinho changed the players around too much, did not explain what he was doing and sucked the confidence out of every single Manchester United player. Sanchez is saying what we were all thinking and perhaps this kind of honesty will allow the Chilean to move on from the worst period in his career so far.
He has struggled massively at United since Mourinho signed him from Arsenal last January — Sanchez has scored five goals in 37 appearances in all competitions for the Red Devils — and those struggles have got even worse under new caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
However, the former Arsenal star now has a huge opportunity to play regularly as both Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial are out injured for a few weeks. Sanchez now has a chance to show he can deliver on a consistent basis but after so many months either injured, or battling back to fitness after a lack of game time, there is a long road ahead for Sanchez.
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’s struggles at Manchester United could easily end with a flourish, according to his caretaker-manager.
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