bluethunder said:
Dribble said:
I like Nasri and since the day he stood in for Yaya in CM whilst he was away on ACN duty, I saw that we were using him incorrectly. In the two games Nasri played there he was absolutely awesome. Many fans called for him to continue in that role, but once Yaya was back, it was back to the bench for Nasri.
Nasri is the deep lying play-maker we lack. I've never been happy with us using two defensive midfielders and as has been pointed out Barca with Xavi and Milan/Juve with Pirlo have proved that you don't need two defensive midfield brutes to protect your back-line. A deep-lying play-maker and a ball-playing, box to box destroyer and a creative midfielder is what we need to make the most of the talent we have.
The ability to hold on to the ball and to create attacks from that position is more effective than just being able to destroy and pass the ball to someone who can create.
I agree that Nasri is superb in that CM role. Problem is that he cannot defend. In the Premier League, CM's have to be capable of defending.
It would be possible to plays Nasri as a CM if we were playing the 4-3-3, but we're not.
Apparently, we are going to try a fluid version of 4-3-3 from the Academy sides up to the first team and this is what our hierarchy meant by a
'holistic approach' to football matters. If Nasri's never given the chance in that position, we'll never know what he can do in the long-term. All I know is that the 2 times I've seen him playing defensive midfield, he's been superb and those two performances have arguably been two of his best since signing.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/nasri-i-see-myself-in-defensive-midfield
http://www.thegunninghawk.com/2010/...midfield-attacking-midfield-and-on-the-flank/
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_5283401,00.html
Nasri set for defensive role
Gunners ace admits he can play as a defensive midfielder
Samir Nasri has revealed that he can see himself playing as a defensive midfielder for Arsenal in the coming seasons.
The 21-year-old's comments may come as a surprise to some with the Frenchman deployed behind the strikers for former club Marseille and on the wing for the Gunners this term.
But Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is thought to see the midfielder in a more defensive role in front of the back four, in the mould of AC Milan ace Andrea Pirlo.
Wenger is not the first to make the suggestion with Nasri revealing that ex-Marseille coach Albert Emon and France boss Raymond Domenech have both stated that they see the youngster as a deep lying midfielder.
The Gunners have been crying out for a ball winner in the middle of the park for the past few seasons and since the arrival of Andrey Arshavin, Nasri has seen himself pushed further back, not that he seems to mind.
"I think so yes," he said when asked if he could switch to defensive midfield.
"In any case, I am more at ease in the middle. I have more influence on the game. Even if it isn't up to me to do the dirty work, I feel capable of doing it
I think that Wenger fella knows a thing or two about talent spotting and I think we're all missing the obvious too. The answer is right under our noses and to deploy Nasri as a defensive midfielder would make us more dynamic as a team IMO and less reliant on width from the full backs.
Up until this season, our width mainly came from our full backs and as Arsenal have shown, teams are now going to do a Wimbledon (or ManUre) against us and just hit the ball long in behind the defence.
If we were more dynamic in our set-up our full backs could then support the attack if needed, but in general they would just form a defensive block of four and defend which is primarily their job.