[url:2dnd71g5]http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/22/samir-nasri-manchester-city-united[/url] said:Samir Nasri relishes Premier League showdown with Manchester United
Andy Hunter
Guardian.co.uk, Thursday 22 March 2012 19.00 EDT
Samir Nasri scored the winner against Chelsea to narrow the gap at the top of the Premier League.
Samir Nasri has underlined the confidence running through Manchester City after their comeback against Chelsea by revealing he hopes Manchester United do not drop a point before they arrive at the Etihad Stadium for a potential title decider on 30 April.
One point separates the two Manchester clubs following Nasri's 85th-minute winner against Roberto Di Matteo's team on Wednesday but, rather than wish for a United collapse to ease City's route to a first league title for 44 years, the France international believes it will benefit his club to face the champions with everything at stake.
With Carlos Tevez back in the squad and willing "to fight for the club", according to Nasri, the former Arsenal midfielder believes City have nothing to fear over the final nine matches of the season.
"You know what, I hope United win all their games, and that we win all of ours, so we can play a final here," said Nasri, who produced arguably his best game for City in the 2-1 defeat of Chelsea. "It will be fantastic for the fans, and for us as well. I am sure we can win the last nine games. It's as simple as that. And if we do it, we will be champions."
City supporters may not share Nasri's enthusiasm for six United victories before the clubs meet but the 24-year-old insists Mancini's team would thrive on the pressure. "Before Wednesday we were four points behind, and did you see the crowd and hear the atmosphere [against Chelsea]?" he said. "It will be like this until the end, and that will be really good for us because we will play with an extra player."
Nasri admits his unusual outlook is based not only on City's ability to win their remaining games but a realistic appraisal of United's title-winning experience. He added: "It will be more interesting for everyone if they win all of their games. I know United will be there until the end – they have the experience and they have a manager who has won everything for 25 years.
"Even if I said I hope they will lose, sometimes you have to be realistic, and I don't think they will lose too many games. First of all, because they don't have any really difficult games, and secondly because they have experience of that type of game. I think they will win so we have to do the same and win all of our games. It's not good to lie, because I don't think they will lose seven of their last nine games."
Rio Ferdinand has echoed Nasri's belief that the next Manchester derby will decide the title race but has not given up hope that City, whose supporters he has accused of coming "out of the woodwork", will drop points in the meantime.
The United defender said: "In an ideal world, we'll have it sewn up by the time we go there but I don't expect it to be finished by the time we go their stadium. If we win the games that we've got left, we win the league. But it's not as easy as that."
Ferdinand also wants to stem the rise in City shirts that he claims he has seen on the streets of Manchester this season. The 33-year-old told the BBC: "Walking around in town you see more and more blue shirts than you probably ever would have seen over the last 10 years. But success sometimes brings people out of the woodwork. So fingers crossed we can delay that and make sure that we get this title sewn up this season."
Nasri's late goal against Chelsea was created superbly by Tevez on his first appearance for City since refusing to warm up in the Champions League game at Bayern Munich in September. Nasri insists the errant Argentina international has been accepted back into the fold by the City squad and can be instrumental in deciding the destiny of the title.
"Since Carlos came back to training he has shown great spirit and focus on his training," Nasri said. "He is a great player – one of the best – and when he is 100% he is really, really hard to stop. The assist will give him confidence because it's not easy to come back after six months without playing a game. He played two games for the reserves but that's not the same. He showed he is ready to fight for the club and it's really important for us."
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Samir Nasri
- Thread starter SambaStyle
- Start date
Dax777 said:Oh no! The game done gone to Samir's head :P
As long as he keeps playing like that he can by all means let it go to his head :D
citytill1die84
Well-Known Member
Top class Nasri was only last week I was saying he'd come good but a decent start hope he continues this so we can rest Merlin and get him 100%.
mike24 said:Don't know if this has been touched on but his goal celebrations are quality! Spurs game and last night he lost it a bit when he scored - Nice to see a bit of raw passion!
Agreed, love it when he scores because he looks like he's cumming in his pants.
That said, I remember when we lost 3-0 v the Arse and he scored and went mad and I was thinking "what a prick, hate this guy" hahah
Quotes from his interview:
“It’s a signal to United that we are here and we will be here until the end.” Nasri said. “It was important that we won the game to stay in touch with United after their result at the weekend.
“But you know what? I hope they win all their games, and that we win all of ours, so we can play a final here. It will be fantastic for the fans, and for us as well.
“It will be more interesting for everyone if they win all of their games, but I know United will be there until the end — they have the experience and they have a manager who has won everything for 25 years.
“Even if I said I hope they will lose, sometimes you have to be realistic, and I don’t think they will lose too many games. First of all, because they don’t have any really difficult games, and secondly because they have experience of that type of game.
“I think they will win, so we have to do the same and win all of our games. “But I am sure we can win the last nine games. It’s as simple as that and, if we do it, we will be champions.”
But despite the 1-0 defeat at Swansea earlier this month which saw City lose top spot, Nasri insists that the setback has been used as an added motivation.
“Inside the club, we believe that we can achieve something together, and that is most important.” Nasri said.
“After Swansea, we could not say anything. We had a really bad game, but after that we recovered and we talked, and said a few things, that we came here to win titles.
“We said that we need to be focused because the 10 league games that were left are 10 Champions League finals and we want to win them.
“Since then we have shown great character against Sporting Lisbon and now against Chelsea.
“There will always be someone there to criticise. Not everyone can like City. But we have believed in ourselves since the first game of the season and we showed great character against Sporting last week and again against Chelsea.
“I am not nervous. I play football to play in these type of games ever since I was a kid. I love football, and on Wednesday, when you see the atmosphere, the crowd, and the football both teams played, everyone wants to play in this kind of games.”
The form he displayed at Arsenal in recent campaigns has been slow to emerge at the Etihad, but with Mancini claiming recently that Nasri has similar attributes to Barcelona pair Andres Iniesta and Xavi, the player insists he is growing in confidence under the Italian manager.
“At the moment Xavi and Iniesta are on top and I am 24.” Nasri said. “But I know that if I have confidence I can get better.
"I am someone who works with love.
"I like to have a ‘dad’ with me, then I can give everything, and that is what I am starting to feel here, that everyone is giving me the confidence, the owners and the manager — he is the same age as my father, so he can be the ‘dad’!
“I can’t say I will be like Iniesta — it would be silly to say that. But I can do my own thing.”
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/9161648/Samir-Nasri-challenges-Manchester-United-to-continue-winning-streak-and-set-up-winner-takes-all-clash.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... clash.html</a>
“It’s a signal to United that we are here and we will be here until the end.” Nasri said. “It was important that we won the game to stay in touch with United after their result at the weekend.
“But you know what? I hope they win all their games, and that we win all of ours, so we can play a final here. It will be fantastic for the fans, and for us as well.
“It will be more interesting for everyone if they win all of their games, but I know United will be there until the end — they have the experience and they have a manager who has won everything for 25 years.
“Even if I said I hope they will lose, sometimes you have to be realistic, and I don’t think they will lose too many games. First of all, because they don’t have any really difficult games, and secondly because they have experience of that type of game.
“I think they will win, so we have to do the same and win all of our games. “But I am sure we can win the last nine games. It’s as simple as that and, if we do it, we will be champions.”
But despite the 1-0 defeat at Swansea earlier this month which saw City lose top spot, Nasri insists that the setback has been used as an added motivation.
“Inside the club, we believe that we can achieve something together, and that is most important.” Nasri said.
“After Swansea, we could not say anything. We had a really bad game, but after that we recovered and we talked, and said a few things, that we came here to win titles.
“We said that we need to be focused because the 10 league games that were left are 10 Champions League finals and we want to win them.
“Since then we have shown great character against Sporting Lisbon and now against Chelsea.
“There will always be someone there to criticise. Not everyone can like City. But we have believed in ourselves since the first game of the season and we showed great character against Sporting last week and again against Chelsea.
“I am not nervous. I play football to play in these type of games ever since I was a kid. I love football, and on Wednesday, when you see the atmosphere, the crowd, and the football both teams played, everyone wants to play in this kind of games.”
The form he displayed at Arsenal in recent campaigns has been slow to emerge at the Etihad, but with Mancini claiming recently that Nasri has similar attributes to Barcelona pair Andres Iniesta and Xavi, the player insists he is growing in confidence under the Italian manager.
“At the moment Xavi and Iniesta are on top and I am 24.” Nasri said. “But I know that if I have confidence I can get better.
"I am someone who works with love.
"I like to have a ‘dad’ with me, then I can give everything, and that is what I am starting to feel here, that everyone is giving me the confidence, the owners and the manager — he is the same age as my father, so he can be the ‘dad’!
“I can’t say I will be like Iniesta — it would be silly to say that. But I can do my own thing.”
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/9161648/Samir-Nasri-challenges-Manchester-United-to-continue-winning-streak-and-set-up-winner-takes-all-clash.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... clash.html</a>
Gaylord du Bois
Well-Known Member
Another very good industrious performance yesterday from Samir.
D
D
Deleted member 14625
Guest
He's our best player at the moment. His work rate is excellent, one minute he's left the next he's right, he's our only attacking player with constant movement, and he's playing with confidence and determination.Gaylord du Bois said:Another very good industrious performance yesterday from Samir.
Re: Re: Samir Nasri
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So aggrevating that as soon as he picked up form, everyone else is playing awful. A good answer however to all his critics and to the people who said he has no backbone. Most of which consist of our own fans!!danburge82 said:He's our best player at the moment. His work rate is excellent, one minute he's left the next he's right, he's our only attacking player with constant movement, and he's playing with confidence and determination.Gaylord du Bois said:Another very good industrious performance yesterday from Samir.
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