ALEXIS SANCHEZ was the subject of an elaborate video of him playing the piano when he joined Manchester United.
Yet there has been something decidedly off key about his career at Old Trafford so far.
The bum notes he hit at Selhurst Park on Monday night had people wincing.
He may earn the big bucks but what United need right now from Sanchez is a big performance.
That or Jose Mourinho needs to make a big call. And you would not blame him for doing just that this Saturday and putting the Chilean superstar on the bench.
You cannot have under-performing players in any Premier League game and certainly not if you’re hosting Liverpool at Old Trafford.
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While Sanchez, 29, stayed on at Selhurst Park, it was others who had come on who got United out of trouble, most notably Juan Mata.
Sanchez started on the left but was then played more centrally, yet did not penetrate the opposition.
FLAW OF POSSESSION Manchester United star Alexis Sanchez lost possession 34 times against Crystal Palace… and it wasn’t even his worst performance of 2018
He had three touches of the ball in the Palace box, less than half his season’s average of seven.
While the riddle about where best to play him is Mourinho’s to solve, the manager cannot affect a player’s control of the ball once he has sent him over that white line.
Sanchez lost it 33 times at Palace. That was not even his worst — he coughed up the ball 36 times in the 2-0 home win over Huddersfield and the 1-0 defeat at Newcastle.
Nobody else in the team does that. It is this wastefulness that so enraged his Arsenal team-mates at times — particularly as he demands the ball so often.
He is not happy if he does not get it either. He was very vocal with young Scott McTominay on Monday when he did not pass to him.
While injury ruled Anthony Martial out of Monday, his form has certainly not been the same since the Chilean arrived. He scored three in four games before Sanchez came but has not struck since.
Jesse Lingard, too, has had to make way of late so Sanchez can be accommodated — yet here is a player who always affects a game.
Lingard is the club’s second-top scorer behind Romelu Lukaku and showed his worth again in the win over Chelsea last weekend.
Then he came on to head the winner, his 13th goal this term.
Boss Mourinho was at great pains when he signed Sanchez to emphasise he can play anywhere across the front. He was at his very best for Arsenal as the main striker.
But he will not be dislodging Lukaku, who got goal No 23 on Monday.
And right now, on form, if you were going with three behind Lukaku you would go Mata right, Lingard middle and Martial left.
If Mourinho goes for three midfielders in a 4-3-3, you would have Mata or Lingard right of Lukaku and Martial left.
Part of Sanchez’s problem is he did not arrive in good form. He had got in a rut and is still trying to get out of it. At Palace he was dropping deeper and deeper. But he is not going to hurt anyone 40 yards out.
Yes, Sanchez can point to his chipped through ball to Mata as a contributory factor in the build-up to Nemanja Matic’s stunning winner.
But he needs to do an awful lot more if he wants to stay in this United team. As it stands, Kop boss Jurgen Klopp will be delighted if he is in it come Saturday…
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