This seems fine: Alexis lets the world know he’s unhappy

It’s long been known that Alexis is a man who, shall we say, wears his footballing heart on his sleeve. He’s a very demonstrative player who doesn’t take it lightly when Arsenal play badly, and really doesn’t like losing. That fire even extends to training - he’s renowned for working harder than pretty much anyone, and he doesn’t seem to like it when the rest of the squad doesn’t match at least his effort level.

Problem is, that fire can, if not properly focused, cause a player to look like he’s just being petulant. SMASH CUT TO: Last night, following Chile’s 1-0 loss to Bolivia which threatens to leave Chile at risk of not making the World Cup.

Let’s translate, shall we?

“You get tired of being criticized with reason and without reason, you get tired of wanting to be defeated, you get tired of saying to yourself "once more I'll get up" after crying after a defeat, and you get tired of telling the world and people who are with you, that everything is going well.”

So, Alexis is tired of losing, and tired of being criticized. That’s understandable. But guess what? In sports, you sometimes lose. And in sports, you sometimes get criticized, fairly or unfairly. That’s part of the deal, and it’s not exactly a surprise. One of the things about being an elite-level athlete is that you have to rise above being thin-skinned, or at the very least, go the Michael Jordan route and turn that thin skin into a powerful motivation to destroy everything and everyone in your path on the way to your goals.

If Alexis did in fact want to leave this year, this might be the first in a series of “Alexis’ Latest Outburst” posts, and I’m not looking forward to that at all. I’m also not looking forward to a sulking Alexis getting rewarded for said sulking with a £350K/week contract next season, but hey, at least Arsenal won’t be spending that on him, right?

I am in no way a “stay in your lane” or “shut up and do sports, sports player” person, but I do think there’s extremely limited utility and diminishing returns to be had in this kind of petulant, pissy venting. If you’re not happy, it seems like you’d maybe vent privately to your family and friends, and publicly say nothing, but what do I know? I’m not an elite level athlete.

Alexis is tired of losing, and I empathize with that - that has to be frustrating. But if this behavior keeps up, I have a feeling we’ll all be tired of Alexis by the end of his contract.