Saturday 3 January 2009

Nasri and Vela can be the creative spark for Arsenal

I've seen enough of Samir Nasri to convince me that he can play a more creative role in the middle of the park for Arsenal.

While Arsenal have been suspect at the back for a while now you could always count on us creating numerous chances throughout a game.

With Fabregas, Walcott and Rosicky missing we have lacked a creative spark in the team and Nasri, with a more central role, can provide us with that.

By moving Nasri into the middle of midfield and playing Vela on the left, Arsenal would cause teams plenty of problems.

I'm sure Vela is ready to play more regularly now and despite Wenger saying he is a striker he looks comfortable down the left flank.

With Vela naturally left footed it will provide the team with more balance. I know throughout the years Arsenal haven't played the game with natural wingers but Vela can come inside as well because he is confident to do so.

We still need to buy players though, and I think that despite this "remedy" another creative player is needed. Arteta is a player who could do a job in the middle or out wide but I think another type of player is needed first.

I still feel Arsenal need to buy a defensive midfielder and that should be at the top of Arsene Wenger's shopping list.

I know Wenger loves to attack but defence is the most important part of a successful team. I honestly feel that a defence made up of Sagna, Gallas, Djourou and Clichy is solid enough.

However, the defence seems to have a lack of protection from the midfield and that is why we look so vulnerable at the back.

A player who can allow the midfield to attack and protect the back-line is something Arsenal have been missing this season.

If we get the right player to play this role it would cut out a lot of goals that we concede.

Keep it Goonerish...........

41 comments:

Anonymous said...

1st

Anonymous said...

Nasri was my man of the match. i believe He needs to play more central than the wings. He can be our Fabregas while he's out!

Gibbs was impressive also!!

Wrighty7 said...

Mike,

Agree with you mate about Gibbs.

He looked good today and very comfortable on the ball.

Brady Kinghorn said...

Well said. I know todays game was against a lesser opposition, but against Plymouth I saw enough of what Nasri can give us in the middle of the park. He easily kept threading through balls on to the likes of Van Persie and Vela. Van Persie scored from his, however Vela could not apply the finish that was needed. These are just two examples of the balls the strikers where receiving. He seems very comfortable and confident when on the ball and goes past players with ease at times.

Vela too shows allot of promise, however I just think that if he does not get regular football then we will still just keep seeing glimpses rather than good performances game after game. I am one of his biggest fans and i have followed him for years and there is no doubt in my mind that he will come good. Wether that is as a striker of a left sided midfielder is to be seen, but on thing to be sure of is if he gets the regular football he needs he will be class. Maybe it´s just me but he reminds me of freddie, at his peak he could play as a striker as well as his more known midfield role.

The defense you pointed out is also my preferred choice. They are good enough to give us assurance at the back, however it is the lack of a defensive midfielder. A real defensive midfielder who fights for every ball, runs back at all times, is the 6th defender (Keeper being the 5th). Once we get in a sold defensive midfielder I think we can show our real promise.

With real wingers that have pace, run at defenders and can score between 10-15 goals Arsenal can once again win trophies. Our strike force are sure to score over 45 goals throughout the season. If we had wingers who could get us 20-25 goals between them and the defence coming up with 10-15 between them we can score loads of goals and realistically challenge for the top honors.

Anonymous said...

Nasri was my MOTM as well. If Vela gets more experience and can work on his right foot like RVP, he will scare the living shit out of teams!

leon said...

great peace once again you have very interesting points,there is no dought that nasri can play either on the wing or central role,lots tricks his pace will cause no end of problems not just that he has great passing range now wenger can shorly get another player like nasri in the market,vela also looks very good lots of tricks tones of pace,nasri worked very hard but if can play like this on more consistant basis

Anonymous said...

Nasri is good. If Wenger can use him in the central, use Vela more in the left midfield, buy a new defense midfield, then we may play better, at least better than the last few weeks. Make sure no Diaby and Denlison, then we have a higher chance to win...

Anonymous said...

gibbs looked gd going forward but still has alot to learn defensively but, defo one for the future, if can get his chance.Ramsey has still got alot to learn also. not looking around enough.
Nasri did play in middle for marseille, was impressive today but diaby was also impressive.

Walcott should be back feb end of so not long now.

Anonymous said...

Surely Gibbs has got to be Clichy's understudy instead of effin Silvestre?

If we had a DM and a more cohesive defence we might even be able to win a game by scoring one goal instead having to score 3!

Anonymous said...

Oh and nasri?

Effin class player.

Anonymous said...

Once again a rather ponderous performance and the likes of eboue and bender are not arsenal players. Get rid of these clowns and give the likes of Vela and Gibbs a run in the team.

najgunner said...

that is why i like u,wrighty7, you talk with sense. Nasri has the creative spark and should operate centrally, especially with the absence of fabregas for up to four months. I also approve the need for a DM, arsenal lack a player that can anchor the midfield by protecting the back four, break up counter attacks and allow teammates to move forward freely
Good to start 2009 with a win.

Anonymous said...

nasri, although a very good player is what i call a 'homer'. plays well at home matches, anonymous during most away matches.

i guess that's part of adapting to english football nad hopefully he will bring his home performances away with him.

Anonymous said...

On a completely different topic;

Jose Mourinho is fucking obsessed with Wenger! He had an interview on SSN about playing ManYoo and ended up goin on about how him and Wenger didnt get on!

Who the fook is the voyeur FFS???

Wrighty7 said...

NajGunner,

Thanks mate. I bet there would be lots of people who disagree that I talk sense! LOL

Spike,

Who's the voyeur now then? LOL

Anonymous said...

Nasri can be a fix for us in the middle, and we should look at the 4 3 3 formation to play players in their favoured positions.

I cant believe people are not talking about Toure being out of the squad, after Wenger said his transfer request was rejected, see arsenal dot com.

He has got a surprise injury, which has only happened, after his transfer request.

Mark C

Wrighty7 said...

Mark C,

I did wonder about how genuine Kolo's injury was.

Anonymous said...

Didn't manage to see the game today, Who played centre mid with nasri, ramsey or diaby? Also how did ramsey play?

Anonymous said...

wrighty, ive got some tasty gos for you!
apparently, and i have to say apparently 'cos this is only coming from my girlfriend's friend, but she works at the Nike store in Picadilly, but she reckons there is an arsenal shirt printed and ready for display there which has arshavin's name on it!

but that's not all. the number is 10!!!!! Gallas a goner methinks!

Anonymous said...

BradyArsenal

I couldnt claim to have followed Vela *closely* for the past few years, but just from what I've seen he can be far more influential on the side than freddie ever was
at his peak ljungberg was a fairly creative, intelligent player, but wat made him so good for us was his work rate and the making of well timed runs
vela has a first touch which is up there with ronaldinho for quality imo (best ive seen at the club since vieira or bergkamp), hes also a much better dribbler and maybe a better finisher than ljungberg
i can perhaps see ur point as he seems to share freddies hunger and work-rate, but my hope is carlos can reach the heights of henry or pires in terms of influence on the side

Wrighty7 said...

That is tasty gossip my friend!

And Ramsey started with Diaby in the middle mate.

Anonymous said...

Nasri was good but also gave the ball away a lot.

I thought Djourou was outstanding. MOTM.

And Gibbs was class. As was Wilshere's 5min cameo.

Bring on the spuds!

Wrighty7 said...

Vela is going to be absolute mustard for Arsenal!

I really believe this kid is going to be world class and one of the best in the world!

Wrighty7 said...

Nasri looked a lot better in the centre and created a lot.

Plenty of through balls.

Anonymous said...

JUST READ THE ARSHEVIN GOSSIP. IM SO EXCITED IM GONNA SHIT.
:-D

Anonymous said...

Naz looked great in a free role. But wide left doesn't suit him. We looked so much better balanced with Gibbs and Vela on the left. NikkiB will never have the technique to fully fit in but nether will Adebayor who cant trap a bag of cement, but both are good strong forwards who can do a job. But its Vela, Eduardo and RVP that excite us. And Walcott when fit.

Djourou should be No.1 choice now. Best headerer & tackler we have. Faster than Kolo who i think is out of here.

What's the Arshavin gossip? Usual rumours or something solid? Good player. Could fill either wing and free Naz in the middle.

A midfield/attack like this would score goals in Fabregas/Walcott absence:
Denilson
Arshavin Diaby
Nasri
RVP Adebayor

Anonymous said...

Good result today lots of positives Nasri Outstanding, Diaby solid RVP took his chances, Gibbs looks like he may give clichy some healthy competition, but why does Wenger persist with Nikki B I really hoped the lad would develop into a class striker but he is way off.

Anonymous said...

Veloso for DM!!

Anonymous said...

www.pornhub.com
good site for arsenal highlights

Anonymous said...

ever benega for DM

just throwing it out there
[next big thing ;)]

MeteorMonster said...

While Gibbs has potential his future options at the club are limited because we have Traore out on loan to Portsmouth and Pedro Bothello to Salamanca. Both are young, tall, fast, technically excellent, creative and are closer to the first team at the present.

Nasri is a natural CM and played in that position for his previous club and for France at the U-21 level, so it should not be surprising he is very comfortable in that role.

Wrighty is correct, our greatest need at this time is a tall, fast, combative DMF to protect the back 4 and add some steel down the spine. Vela played successfully on the wing for 2 years Spain and is very comfortable in that position.

Arsene is not making the best use of our current team by playing many people out of position. Our team is way better than the results show if we get the organization and squad selection right.

It took him 2 years to realize Toure and Gallas is not a good partnership in the EPL, 1/2 season to realize Vela should be playing on the wing, still doesn't realize Denilson is not a CDM, and on and on.

Just play people in their natural positions and create complementary partnerships and we will have a lot greater success even though we are short in a few areas.

Anonymous said...

Nasri's best position is just behind the striker in the Zidane role, that is where he played for Marsille ^^

leon said...

nasri can play both cm or wing for to me but wenger could with dm player that has the same all action style and song does not have that,not sure if wenger will get another winger he has at least 3 young gifted wingers on loan and all looking very good plus he still has nasri and risisky but he will be looking for cm because if nasri gets injured arsenal are looking very limited,i think he might have start playing wiltshire and vela alot sooner than would have wanted because of limitation in the squad

Anonymous said...

MeteorMonster

Last season toure and gallas was a very good partnership for the most part
basically until toure got an injury and he never seemed to recover

i also disagree about denilson
firstly stat-wise hes one of the best, if not the best CMs this season in the league

also flamini wasnt a DM, he was a box-to-box player, not a specialised defensive mid
denilson does play in a fairly similar way, hes just less intense

leon said...

sorry galas/toure were never that good togtrher because they were to similaer both very quick and ther very mobile but r niethervery cammanding defenders and evon though dj is looking very good wenger will have replace gallas and silvestor soon, i cant see him getting hi splace back has not looked the same for over year now,he might see song as a long term replacement i disagree i line the look of song he semms a bit plasid to me.silvestor looks just be stop gap he looks solid at times but nothing specail,wenger will have to buy in the summer,its difficult say weather flamani could reproduce the form he had last season, but see delinson as work in progress still mush improvement needed to be dm and the for song,wenger needs all action type player who has alot of first team football

Anonymous said...

VELA was touted as a wc player by AW. The problem is he has not been given a decent run of games to show whay he can do.
Admittedly AW knows but in view of the current situation he shd be allowed more time to show what he can do.And if AW says his his youngsters have no experience,he shd look no further than himself.

Anonymous said...

The latest on the transfer front is leaving gooner fans bewildered. All kinds of conflicting signals have been made. But and it's big but if no player or players are being bought,and the current slump continues despite AW bravely saying the gunners can win the title there can only be more frustration for the fans.
The worst scenario is the cl spot is out of reach then what?This reminds me of the man whose roof was leaking.He insisted on diy. It was made worse.He still refused to get the repairman. Finally the roof caved in.
Of course such a scenario may not happen at the es for the next few years but nothing is guaranteed in life and football.
It's obvious where the shortcomings of the team are .yes all fans know key personnel are injured. Then why not give the youngsters the chance to start the game from the start and give them experience if that's what AW wants.
If not he shd have bought the experienced guys.
The bucks stops at AW and he shd get Arsenal out the current malaise instead of giving all kinds of excuses.
Frankly speaking all gunner fans are sick and tired of the various statement coming from the eton ob and AW.
Its time to move on and start a series of successive repeat successive wins.

Anonymous said...

im sorry but denilson just isnt good eneough dspite trying very hard.
also why not try a fully fit toure in dm after all he started of as a winger.

Anonymous said...

It is completely obvious that we have only Vela as Winger right now.

Just look at Aston Villa with Ashley young- Nasri cannot do that stuff, which is getting cross after cross in from the left...but, Nasri makes a good central midfielder

I think clearly Denilson/Fabregas are too defensive this season, they lack the creative spark and aggression that we need. We are better off without them at the moment . The fact they are injured is a blessing in disguise

Anonymous said...

It is on occasion forgotten that Henry didn’t do it all on his own. Most of the time he had Robert Pires to help him. It took over a year to get right, but when it did work it was stunningly simple.

Henry could always be relied upon to spend some of his game on the left wing, and when he did that he would invariably drag two defenders with him. Pires would then toddle into the centre forward position ready for the pass that allowed him to score.

It worked so many times that it was always a wonder that other teams didn’t get it - but it is a measure of the quality of these two players that they got away with it for so long.

Repeating the trick is harder, although we’ve seen it start with Adebayor taking increasing numbers of excursions to the left wing. Now we are starting to see why - Nasri is turning up in the middle more and more often. We’ve even seen Bendtner going out left, so Nasri can work more and more down the middle.

OK, Nasri is not Pires - not yet. But don’t forget that Nasri is younger than Pires was when he joined, and Pires had a very dull and ordinary first year with us (of course we now forget the cries that he should be dropped - what we now remember is Player of the Year and the rest of the team bowing down to him when he hobbled up to collect his championship medal). On that basis Nasri is operating above schedule.

This could be the magic that Wenger has seen and is trying to develop. Adebayor playing down the middle but confusingly ending up on the left wing, Van Persie playing behind the front player (and I have to say Van P is looking better and better to me. I know the game was against an ordinary lower league team yesterday, but the last goal showed focus and concentration, and a lot of skill), with Nasri drifting into the middle.

Nasri spent a lot of the past year injured, and that is why he was available on a transfer. People talked of the new Zidane, but that was more in hope than expectation. But Wenger’s insights are generally more right than wrong. It is not functioning anything like fully yet, but I think this is where it is going.

Anonymous said...

Vela has got to be on the left Wing.

What is Wenger wasting Vela on the bench AND wasting Nasri on the left?

Our best 5-men midfield now

Diaby-Ramsey
Walcott-Nasri-Vela