Henrikh Mkhitaryan struggled to make an impact at Manchester United since joining from Dortmund in 2016. Though it didn’t take too long for Mkhitaryan to make a mark under Arsene Wenger with Arsenal.
Mkhitaryan joined Arsenal in a straight swap deal which saw Alexis Sanchez going the other way.
It was always going to be difficult for Mkhitaryan to fill in for Alexis. Sanchez had been Arsenal’s driving force since his move to North London from Barcelona in 2014. Alexis is someone who gives and demands everything from the first whistle and someone who grinds until the last. Thierry Henry labeled Alexis Sanchez as, “Arsenal’s best signing of the last six years”.
And Henrikh Mkhitaryan had to replace Alexis Sanchez, the pressure was sky-high – But he delivered.
Everyone forgot about Alexis Sanchez just minutes into Mkhitaryan’s first start for Arsenal. On 3 February 2018, Henrikh Mkhitaryan was named in Arsenal’s starting line-up for the first time against Everton. Henrikh finished the game bagging three assists as Arsenal beat Everton 5-1.
You could observe, Mkhitaryan soon became an integral part of Arsenal’s team – starting all the games and getting supporters on the edge of their seats every time he drives forward with the ball. Isn’t that something Alexis Sanchez used to do? Henrikh Mkhitaryan had successfully replaced Alexis Sanchez in the mind of supporters and now it’s just about proving himself on consistent basis.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s Failure at Manchester United
Mkhitaryan came to Manchester United as ‘one of the best midfielder around the globe’, he just had a season racking up 23 goals and 26 assists with Dortmund. He was voted Bundesliga’s Player’s Player of the season and everyone exactly knew ‘How dangerous United could be with Mkhitaryan’. But he didn’t even come close to fulfilling everyone’s expectations.
Let’s get one thing straight, Henrikh Mkhitaryan didn’t fail at Manchester United – Jose Mourinho failed him. He was just not right fit for Jose Mourinho, the same way Jose found no use of Mohamed Salah or Kevin De Bruyne during his time with Chelsea. Both of them are now amongst Premier League’s best attacking players. 23 goals and 26 assists for Borussia Dortmund in the previous year, just imagine what Pep Guardiola could do with such a player.
United defended deep, stayed in their own half and gave the ball to Mkhitaryan expecting something to happen – that’s not the way you use talents like Mkhitaryan.
Mkhitaryan took jibe on Mourinho criticizing his ‘defensive way of football’.
“Every offensive player wants to play offensive football. For me as well, I always love to play offensive football, it’s not easy to defend all the time.”, Mkhitaryan said after he completed his move to Arsenal.
Mkhitaryan’s struggles at Manchester United is nothing more than Jose Mourinho’s statistical failure.
Here are some of the qualities responsible for Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s success at Arsenal:
Mkhitaryan possesses all the golden qualities an attacking midfielder requires to succeed. He has just everything – creativity, pace, accuracy, hunger, work rate – you could just keep on going and bragging about him. Let’s just elaborate about Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s Style of play.
“His footballing intelligence – his ability to read the game – is perhaps his greatest quality, alongside his speed, power, and technique. He belongs to a group of players who can interpret what their coach wants. Working with players like that is pure fun.” – Mircea Lucescu
Talking about his footballing intelligence, even Jurgen Klopp is a huge fan of his ability to think, understand and process reflex in-between the games.
“There’s a reason why the World’s best players come from Armenia like Mkhitaryan. They’re thinkers they’re hard workers, they’re graft.” – Jurgen Klopp
As highlighted by Lucescu and Klopp, the greatest of Mkhitaryan’s strength is to understand what his coach wants and what his team needs from him. Though application is what matters i.e. understanding when, where, and how to apply on the needs. This is where Henrikh Mkhitaryan is different, this is where he makes the difference.
With intelligence and presence of mind comes creativity. Now talking about creativity, he was compared to Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane during his time at Shakhtar. We couldn’t expect him to get as creative as Mesut ‘magical’ Ozil, but Mkhitaryan still has capabilities to come close to Mesut’s abilities. Good Communication and Intelligence is always beneficial and Henrikh is a football thinker, which serves excellently in the games. The combination of ‘magic minds’ of Mesut and Henrikh serves pretty tragic to the oppositions.
Mkhitaryan likes to keep the ball rolling, though he is someone who waits for the ideal moment to release a through ball. His short passes are equally intelligent. With Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil linking up you could imagine the endless passing before finally having a go.
Mkhitaryan is also a grinder (not as much as Sanchez) but when needed he would track back and help the defence. Many had second thoughts about Mkhitaryan’s ‘softness’ and claimed he was not ideal fit for Premier League. Everything from his passing to work-rate were re-written by critics, but as Jonathan Wilson of The Guardian highlighted, “in his three seasons in the Bundesliga, Mkhitaryan regained possession through tackles and interceptions 2.7 times per game, 3.2 times per game and 3.2 times per game.” These aren’t the statistics of a player who is afraid to grind. Though, Actions are better than words – Mkhitaryan was spotted helping Arsenal in defensive duties on regular basis last season.
Fitting into Unai Emery’s Arsenal:
No one expected Arsene Wenger to leave Arsenal despite pressure from supporters, but that day did come and the Legendary Arsene Wenger had to step down.
Arsenal brought in Unai Emery to replace Arsene Wenger. It will be tough for Unai Emery to implement ‘his way of football’, where atmosphere breathes Arsene Wenger.
But, here is Unai Emery guiding Arsenal towards new dawn.
Arsenal brought in Unai Emery to replace Arsene Wenger. It will be tough for Unai Emery to implement ‘his way of football’, where atmosphere breathes Arsene Wenger.
‘Defending should start from the striker and attacking from the goalkeeper.’ – demands Unai Emery, and we have seen Alexis Sanchez track back thirty-forty yards to win the ball – But will Mkhitaryan be able to do that?
MKHI WOES AND SHAMBOLIC SANCHEZ
Arsenal are yet to see the best of Henrikh Mkhitaryan – eleven months ino his career at Emirates and his best position yet remains a mystery.
Looking at him – his performances look far away from the big guns. He is not making an impact which Unai Emery would have initially liked. He drifts away in games and many a times loses chances which could have gone in, if it were not him.
Particularly against Liverpool, Unai Emery opted to start with all of the shining starts up ahead in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Lacazette, Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. It were all joy for the Gunners looking their ‘A Team’ lining up against the mighty Reds but if we narrow it down to Henrikh – he didn’t have any impact on the game and mainly opted against couple of clear key passes which would have followed up to Aubameyang in an ‘one-on-one’ situation. He was soon subbed off for Alex Iwobi – who turned up high providing for Lacazette to level up.
Unai Emery is using him into Europa League and probably a bench role – but a big surprise was laid off when he started for Arsenal against Tottenham in the North London Derby. Many fans were fuming Emery over leaving Mesut Ozil out over Henrikh Mkhitaryan but was substituted at the stroke of half-time for Aaron Ramsey who had an incredible game with fans calling out to extend his contract.
His performances has led to a big question mark over his presence at Arsenal and Ian Wright has called for the Welshman to be valued as high as Henrikh Mkhitaryan considering the big bucks he is claiming every week.
“What can I say about Ramsey?” Ian asked on his Youtube channel.
“When you look at what he can give us – Mkhitaryan has not started playing for Arsenal yet.
“It’s a frustrating thing for me because they’ve taken the contract off the table for Ramsey, which says to me they’re happy for him to go.
“But when you look at what he can give us, no one else does that from midfield.
“Breaks forward, breaks up play, scores goals, sets them up.
“If I was him, I would be upset in that you’ve got two players there who are probably earning a fortune in respects of what they’ve done.
“I’m at a quandary with what’s happening with Ramsey now especially when you see him in a big game like that.”
Now that speaks alot about What Ian Wright and other Arsenal fans want and that directly puts Mkhi’s future in a big dilemma.
Alexis Sanchez is also rendering a time to forget right now at Manchester United. He has only registered one goal this season, having lost his place to Anthony Martial in the eleven.
Sanchez have highly struggled to find his feet since his move from Arsenal in January. He has only managed four goals in thirty appearances for Manchester United, although the Chelian boasts a tally of 80 goals in 166 appearances for the Gunners.
WATCH: 8 IMPRESSIVE THINGS MKHITARYAN HAS ALREADY DONE IN 2018
OKAY! SOO…
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is certainly not someone as athletic and aggressive as Alexis Sanchez but at the same time the Armenian do possess the mentality to help the defence. We did see glimpses of Mkhitaryan winning the ball and helping out the defence on multiple occasions last season but he will have to do that on regular basis under Emery.
Mkhitaryan still has a lot to go at Arsenal, but in a short space of time he has managed to showcase himself more than what he did during his tenure at Manchester United. He has been scoring goals as well as providing assists on consistent basis. Hope to see more of it from Mkhitaryan.
Whoa, Mkhitaryan, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, he’s our midfield Armenian!!
