Player thread: Samir Nasri (2014/15)

[OB1]

Re: Samir Nasri

Yup, pretty much this. If we had Jovetic available I'd be less concerned, but I don't believe there's a cat in hell's chance of that happening this season. Nasri and Silva constitute 90% of our creativity, and I would be very uncomfortable relying on just Silva for the next two months, particularly given the number of games we've got coming up and the likelihood of them becoming increasingly attritional affairs. Merlin has a history of muscle injuries with us, and I think we should certainly look to get someone else in, be it a loan signing or a long term permanent deal. Getting someone of the requisite standard though at this stage of the season would be very difficult. The best I can think of domestically and who might be available to us (and he's not in the same league as Silva or Nas) is Ravel Morrison, but I seem to recall he needed to get out of Manchester for his own good not so long ago.

Ravel Morrison!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We should be trying to get Isco.

Share the anger about this and Yanga-Mbiwa getting away with it. Horrid, horrid challenge.

The key was in the words "might be available"!!! Of course I'd rather have Isco, Mata, Coutinho, or even Arjen Robben or Ben Arfa, but there's not a chance their current clubs would sell to us. Morrison is a vastly inferior product, but good enough to do a job if called upon, plus in the last 14 months of his present deal, he's cheap as chips. Buy him, use him and upgrade in the summer if he ain't worth the effort.
Of course the ideal player to step into the creative breach is Jovetic, but whatever the fuck is going on his life/head make him about as likely to play for City again this season as me!

I'd rather just use Lopes than spend money on someone like Morrison. I understand the difficulty of signing someone of the quality that we really want but I would rather pay a premium for a top player now than waste money on a makeweight. You might get your money back on a makeweight or you might struggle to get them off the books. The (extra) cash required may well be of little consequence to the owner; the obvious issue is FFPR but any premium for buying in January probably won't be the hugest of problems in terms of our amortisation; especially if we can bring in a top player on (say) a five year contract.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Re: Samir Nasri

Ravel Morrison!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We should be trying to get Isco.

Share the anger about this and Yanga-Mbiwa getting away with it. Horrid, horrid challenge.

The key was in the words "might be available"!!! Of course I'd rather have Isco, Mata, Coutinho, or even Arjen Robben or Ben Arfa, but there's not a chance their current clubs would sell to us. Morrison is a vastly inferior product, but good enough to do a job if called upon, plus in the last 14 months of his present deal, he's cheap as chips. Buy him, use him and upgrade in the summer if he ain't worth the effort.
Of course the ideal player to step into the creative breach is Jovetic, but whatever the fuck is going on his life/head make him about as likely to play for City again this season as me!

I'd rather just use Lopes than spend money on someone like Morrison. I understand the difficulty of signing someone of the quality that we really want but I would rather pay a premium for a top player now than waste money on a makeweight. You might get your money back on a makeweight or you might struggle to get them off the books. The (extra) cash required may well be of little consequence to the owner; the obvious issue is FFPR but any premium for buying in January probably won't be the hugest of problems in terms of our amortisation; especially if we can bring in a top player on (say) a five year contract.

I certainly think we need to bring someone in. Until Nasri copped for his injury my preference was for a quality centre half, but now I think a midfielder is a must. One of my chief concerns with City (as you know), is that whilst our preferred starting XI is top drawer, those in reserve don't all measure up in terms of pace and technique, for what Pellers wants them to do. Once you get beyond Silva and Nasri, there's very little in terms of real creativity, and we are now almost completely reliant on the more customarily injury prone of the two until March. That is a big big ask in what will become an increasingly attritional, fixture congested run in. Thinking back to the turgid affair up at Newcastle in the Carling Cup, that is a risk I do not think we should dare take, and particularly not given that our other option, Jovetic, is a de facto write off. The stakes are too high and there are too many teams breathing down our neck. I looked at Arseholenal yesterday, and they are awash with nippy, skillful creative midfield players. Even in the absence of Ramsay and Walcott, there was still Cazorla, Wilshere, Ozil, the Ox and Rosicky. They may not have anyone of the quality of Silva or Nas, but they have a far better creative spread, as do Chelsea IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Samir Nasri

I certainly think we need to bring someone in. Until Nasri copped for his injury my preference was for a quality centre half, but now I think a midfielder is a must. One of my chief concerns with City (as you know), is that whilst our preferred starting XI is top drawer, those in reserve don't all measure up in terms of pace and technique, for what Pellers wants them to do. Once you get beyond Silva and Nasri, there's very little in terms of real creativity, and we are now almost completely reliant on the more customarily injury prone of the two until March. That is a big big ask in what will become an increasingly attritional, fixture congested run in. Thinking back to the turgid affair up at Newcastle in the Carling Cup, that is a risk I do not think we should dare take, and particularly not given that our other option, Jovetic, is a de facto write off. The stakes are too high and there are too many teams breathing down our neck. I looked at Arseholenal yesterday, and they are awash with nippy, skillful creative midfield players. Even in the absence of Ramsay and Walcott, there was still Cazorla, Wilshere, Ozil, the Ox and Rosicky. They may not have anyone of the quality of Silva or Nas, but they have a far better creative spread, as do Chelsea IMO.

We missed a trick in not signing Carola or Mata when they moved. Think it's unlikely we'll see another midfielder this month as like OB says, it'd be a stop gap and i don't think Pellegrini/Txiki are the kind of people who will do bad business like that in a panic.

I reckon only if we can accelerate a potential summer deal will we be in the market this month.

 

[leighton]

Re: Samir Nasri

I dont see it as a problem. Milner has done great in the last few games he has played. Let him slot in for Nasri in the away games. He has come up with some brilliant assists in recent games just needs game time and the Nasri injury will give him more game time. Also he will want to put on a show with the World Cup not too far away if he wants to go there he will have to play well at the club to get on that plane for Brazil.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Re: Samir Nasri

I dont see it as a problem. Milner has done great in the last few games he has played. Let him slot in for Nasri in the away games. He has come up with some brilliant assists in recent games just needs game time and the Nasri injury will give him more game time. Also he will want to put on a show with the World Cup not too far away if he wants to go there he will have to play well at the club to get on that plane for Brazil.

Milner can certainly do a job, but Nasri is in a class of his own when it comes to maintaining possession in tight situations, ghosting past opponents and generally dragging them all over the place. An artisan versus an artiste......

 

[OB1]

Re: Samir Nasri

I certainly think we need to bring someone in. Until Nasri copped for his injury my preference was for a quality centre half, but now I think a midfielder is a must. One of my chief concerns with City (as you know), is that whilst our preferred starting XI is top drawer, those in reserve don't all measure up in terms of pace and technique, for what Pellers wants them to do. Once you get beyond Silva and Nasri, there's very little in terms of real creativity, and we are now almost completely reliant on the more customarily injury prone of the two until March. That is a big big ask in what will become an increasingly attritional, fixture congested run in. Thinking back to the turgid affair up at Newcastle in the Carling Cup, that is a risk I do not think we should dare take, and particularly not given that our other option, Jovetic, is a de facto write off. The stakes are too high and there are too many teams breathing down our neck. I looked at Arseholenal yesterday, and they are awash with nippy, skillful creative midfield players. Even in the absence of Ramsay and Walcott, there was still Cazorla, Wilshere, Ozil, the Ox and Rosicky. They may not have anyone of the quality of Silva or Nas, but they have a far better creative spread, as do Chelsea IMO.

We missed a trick in not signing Carola or Mata when they moved. Think it's unlikely we'll see another midfielder this month as like OB says, it'd be a stop gap and i don't think Pellegrini/Txiki are the kind of people who will do bad business like that in a panic.

I reckon only if we can accelerate a potential summer deal will we be in the market this month.

I'm pretty sure the club was not planning to spend in January but they must surely be giving serious consideration now even while wanting to avoid panic buying. They must have players that they are monitoring as possible future additions and have to consider if they can accelerate a potential deal without paying silly money. The cost benefit analysis could be on the basis of what if we win no trophies instead of two?

I am not prepared to write-off Jovetic but the club are best place to make a judgement on that; however, I would not be inlcined to see him as anything other than a possible bonus.

I share the concern over our reserves when it comes to midfield pace and creativity, which remains the biggest weakness in a very strong full squad. I was very keen for us to get Isco in the summer as a supplement to Nasri and Silva; rather than a replacement for Nasri.

I thought we should have added Carzola when he was available i.e. before he went to Arsenal and it's an even greater pity now that we didn't: he's a Pellegrini player.<br /><br />-- Tue Jan 14, 2014 2:15 pm --<br /><br />

I dont see it as a problem. Milner has done great in the last few games he has played. Let him slot in for Nasri in the away games. He has come up with some brilliant assists in recent games just needs game time and the Nasri injury will give him more game time. Also he will want to put on a show with the World Cup not too far away if he wants to go there he will have to play well at the club to get on that plane for Brazil.

Milner can certainly do a job, but Nasri is in a class of his own when it comes to maintaining possession in tight situations, ghosting past opponents and generally dragging them all over the place. An artisan versus an artiste......

Nasri is simply on a different level to Jimmy.

 

[taconinja]

Re: Samir Nasri

One thing we should perhaps consider is Navas might be able to play more centrally when needed. I think he has the talent to do so in a similar fashion to Nasri.

 

[aguero93:20]

Re: Samir Nasri

One thing we should perhaps consider is Navas might be able to play more centrally when needed. I think he has the talent to do so in a similar fashion to Nasri.

he has played in the hole for sevilla and Spain before, however it would best be described as 'doing a job', didn't look anywhere near his best (when I saw him there)

 

[taconinja]

Re: Samir Nasri

One thing we should perhaps consider is Navas might be able to play more centrally when needed. I think he has the talent to do so in a similar fashion to Nasri.

he has played in the hole for sevilla and Spain before, however it would best be described as 'doing a job', didn't look anywhere near his best (when I saw him there)

If the 8-week assessment is accurate, I could be happy with Navas doing a job. :)

 

[Bluesiam]

Re: Samir Nasri

My guess is we'll see Marco Lopes get a start tomorrow night. It would be a mega bonus if he has a big enough game to gain enough confidence to step in for Samir on the creative side.