Samir Nasri interview

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

I'm in the process of listening to the entire interview (rather than relying on someone else's summary of it, well-intentioned though that may be). I'm one-and-a-half hours into it. It's a bit of a marathon. Will do the second stage tomorrow night, I think. Nasri comes across as balanced, straight-talking, generous in his judgements, especially of other players he admires. He's not big-headed, but knew his worth in terms of talent as a player from Marseille onwards. As why should he not? He clearly had a special relationship with Wenger (a number of Arsenal players have said that, including Vieira) and felt that among managers he learned most from him as a footballer.

As far as my own judgement is concerned, every single player in that team, and indeed in that squad (with the arguable exception of Savic, and I don't even blame him, he just wasn't a very good footballer) fully played their part in that title win in 2011-12, and that includes Samir Nasri. He had a superb season in 2013-14, partly because of a wonderful understanding with both David Silva and above all Yaya Touré. Our midfield dominance played a huge part in that title win. In his best years he put in as much effort as anyone else. I prefer to remember the best of people, rather than the worst. There's no doubt in my mind that there was a falling-off, and he missed the chance of a lifetime because if there's one player who could have reached his full potential under Pep, it was Nasri.
By the way, in what he has to say about Roberto there isn't the slightest bitterness, in fact he's laughing most of the time in thinking back on it. He's clearly not a guy who lives with regrets. I sometimes see him on French television working as a commentator for Canal +, and as pundits go he's not bad, in fact.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Think Mancini has definitely mellowed. Maybe age, but I think national football is a better fit for his temperament.

You don't see the players that often...players and management won't grate on each other as much.

No real politics with the board - you can't buy players, what you've got you've got.

Love Bobby Manc, but the evidence pretty clear from multiple sources that he'd reached his shelf life with they way he manages in club football.

Roberto, with his swagger, was exactly what we needed then. We had to move on. So did he. It's been to the benefit of both. I love it that he's had such success with the Italian national team. He is an Italian through and through.

 

[Kazzydeyna]

I quite liked Nasri and I tend to think the accusations of being a mercenary or lazy are more about assumptions of his character than anything that happened on the pitch.

There’s nothing in this interview which contradicts what’s already been aired about Mancini’s time at City. Wearing a scarf and ‘tearing the banner down’ just struck me as good PR, but the other side of the coin was an ongoing sense of drama and instability which did nothing for performances on the pitch. With the squad we had we should have won the league by far more than goal difference in 2012 and it was Mancini’s intransigence which resulted in Van Persie going to the rags which pretty much cost us the league the following seasons. Tevez being unavailable for much of the 11/12 season because Mancini invented a fictional version of events in Munich was ia sackable offence.

Mancini’s biggest flaw was that he thought he was bigger than the club and could play political games, negotiate with alternative employers, dictate transfer strategy, demand signings on a plate and drive players out of the door without any of it coming back to him. Without getting in to national stereotypes, perhaps he did think City would cheat there way through FFP so he could have five centre forwards, Hazard, AND De Rossi without having to sell anyone despite it being obvious to all and sundry that this was not going to happen.

Prior to joining City Mancini’s record in club management was good but not great and the same could be said for his post City club career. Managing City was the peak of his career but he never realised what he had and let it slip away. Ironically, perhaps the same could be said about Nasri?

As an aside, it's been said that Mancini didn’t do much in the way of team talks and it was usually Kompany who got things organised in the dressing room. One of Mancini’s main weaknesses was that he was quite tactically limited which was very apparent in Europe and on any occasion we played a side using 3,5,2 – the FA Cup final being a prime example.

What I struggle to understand is the masturbatory reverence in which Mancini is still held by people who treat Pellegrini with equal levels of disdain. They won similar amounts but the main difference is that Pellegrini did so under the constraints of FFP and with much better performances in the Champions League.

Mancini did get some big things right - facing down the egos in the squad, putting the pressure back on the rags in 11/12 title race and also taking the heat for the 3-0 defeat at Anfield the Monday before the FA Cup semi-final. However, overall, only achieved the minimum of what he should and by the end of 12/13 had, arguably, set us back.

I agree with you that Pellers was at least the equal of Mancini as a manager and easily arguably better. Certainly he was a calmer individual and laid the foundations for Pep perfectly. A true gent.

But when you say that Mancini should have won the league more easily in 2012 I have to vehemently disagree.
He was in charge of a group of players who had only very recently been brought together. At a club that hadn’t been near a title in 44 years, bar a near miss in 1977. And his main adversary was a club that had proven itself over decades as the most successful English side ever. A club managed by, frankly, a living legend and the greatest manager in the history of club football. A club and a manager that had successfully and publicly seen off every single challenger over the previous 20-odd years.
And at City he had a team that were at war with their manager because he made them work hard and didn’t always treat them like Gods, and a minority of a fan base that openly despised and hated him as they refused to forgive him for winning our first trophy in 35 years, the season before.

The job Mancini did in 2012 was as near to a miracle as you’ll likely ever see.
Not to forget the disgraceful run of decisions we got from officials from
Christmas until mid April.

Pep is a far far better manager than Mancini and I wouldn’t swap him for the world on a plate, but Mancini did a vastly more impressive job given the resources open to him and the circumstances both found themselves in.

Mancini is simply a God. Without him there’s no pellers and ultimately no Pep. Without him this City which we all love would not exist in its current form.

 

[Pam]

I'm in the process of listening to the entire interview (rather than relying on someone else's summary of it, well-intentioned though that may be). I'm one-and-a-half hours into it. It's a bit of a marathon. Will do the second stage tomorrow night, I think. Nasri comes across as balanced, straight-talking, generous in his judgements, especially of other players he admires. He's not big-headed, but knew his worth in terms of talent as a player from Marseille onwards. As why should he not? He clearly had a special relationship with Wenger (a number of Arsenal players have said that, including Vieira) and felt that among managers he learned most from him as a footballer.

As far as my own judgement is concerned, every single player in that team, and indeed in that squad (with the arguable exception of Savic, and I don't even blame him, he just wasn't a very good footballer) fully played their part in that title win in 2011-12, and that includes Samir Nasri. He had a superb season in 2013-14, partly because of a wonderful understanding with both David Silva and above all Yaya Touré. Our midfield dominance played a huge part in that title win. In his best years he put in as much effort as anyone else. I prefer to remember the best of people, rather than the worst. There's no doubt in my mind that there was a falling-off, and he missed the chance of a lifetime because if there's one player who could have reached his full potential under Pep, it was Nasri.
By the way, in what he has to say about Roberto there isn't the slightest bitterness, in fact he's laughing most of the time in thinking back on it. He's clearly not a guy who lives with regrets. I sometimes see him on French television working as a commentator for Canal +, and as pundits go he's not bad, in fact.

Think he got the first goal in the title winning 2-0 win against West Ham as well in 2013\14.

 

[halfcenturyup]

I'm in the process of listening to the entire interview (rather than relying on someone else's summary of it, well-intentioned though that may be). I'm one-and-a-half hours into it. It's a bit of a marathon. Will do the second stage tomorrow night, I think. Nasri comes across as balanced, straight-talking, generous in his judgements, especially of other players he admires. He's not big-headed, but knew his worth in terms of talent as a player from Marseille onwards. As why should he not? He clearly had a special relationship with Wenger (a number of Arsenal players have said that, including Vieira) and felt that among managers he learned most from him as a footballer.

As far as my own judgement is concerned, every single player in that team, and indeed in that squad (with the arguable exception of Savic, and I don't even blame him, he just wasn't a very good footballer) fully played their part in that title win in 2011-12, and that includes Samir Nasri. He had a superb season in 2013-14, partly because of a wonderful understanding with both David Silva and above all Yaya Touré. Our midfield dominance played a huge part in that title win. In his best years he put in as much effort as anyone else. I prefer to remember the best of people, rather than the worst. There's no doubt in my mind that there was a falling-off, and he missed the chance of a lifetime because if there's one player who could have reached his full potential under Pep, it was Nasri.
By the way, in what he has to say about Roberto there isn't the slightest bitterness, in fact he's laughing most of the time in thinking back on it. He's clearly not a guy who lives with regrets. I sometimes see him on French television working as a commentator for Canal +, and as pundits go he's not bad, in fact.

Excellent summary. To the point, unbiased and informative. Unlike some of the other posts. Fill us in on the rest of the interview when you are done?

 

[BongoBlue]

Think he got the first goal in the title winning 2-0 win against West Ham as well in 2013\14.

Yes he did. A very important score. Vinnie got the clincher as I recall.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

People who don't want to do the hard work always blame their managers.

He didn't blame the manager for anything. He just pointed out Mancini was an arsehole and that's backed up by pretty much everyone else who was at the club at the time.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

Dave in all fairness after a FA cup and Prem title did the majority of fans give a flying f**k.
Chappie came to Failsworth branch a few years after those 2 nice pots and the hate he had for Mancini was an eye opener at the time .

He was the same on Nedum's podcast.

You know you're a **** when even a mention of your name wipes the smile off Chappie's face.

 

[hilts]

He didn't blame the manager for anything. He just pointed out Mancini was an arsehole and that's backed up by pretty much everyone else who was at the club at the time.

Everyone? Okay. Lazy French man calls out stricter passionate Italian manager.

Give me the Italian as a player or manager every time. I mean oh no the manager wants me to work hard and is being mean.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

Everyone? Okay. Lazy French man calls out stricter passionate Italian manager.

Give me the Italian as a player or manager every time. I mean oh no the manager wants me to work hard and is being mean.

What's the relevance of their respective nationalities?

You don't seriously think Mancini expected anyone to work any harder than Pep does, do you?

Do you think Dzeko was lazy? Kompany?

I don't think you even read the interview transcript.