The talk surrounding Samir Nasri at his club Marseille, prior to joining Arsenal was that he would be the next Zidane, considering similarities of Algerian descent, technical  skills and vision, dribbling skills and playmaking abilities on the football pitch with the great “Zizou”.

The talk surrounding Samir Nasri at his club Marseille, prior to joining Arsenal was that he would be the next Zidane, considering similarities of Algerian descent, technical  skills and vision, dribbling skills and playmaking abilities on the football pitch with the great “Zizou”.

In his debut season and match for Arsenal in 2008, Nas scored the only goal against WBA. His brace against Manchester United in November 2008, the first albeit being a deflected shot, gave sufficient indication that he is up for crunch matches against top rivals. Nothing more could amply demonstrate his stomach for a fight, than the heel clipping of bad boy Joey Barton in the match against Newcastle United.

I must have watched not less than 20 times his magical goal against Porto in last season’s CL, wherein he weaved past three Porto defenders and shot past the goalkeeper at an acute angle into the goal.

He deserved to be in France’s 2010 World Cup squad, but was shockingly dropped. What a way to respond and convert his disappointment by sterling performances on the pitch, worthy of an Arsenal shirt.  He has contributed massively for Arsenal in this season’s matches so far. He was the silver lining in the home defeat to WBA scoring a brace and again scored a magical goal, rounding of Gomes and sending the ball into the net in the 2-3 loss to Spuds. He scored the opener in the 3-0 win against Mancs and also another brace in the win against Spuds in the Carling Cup, again demonstrating his hunger for performing in the big games.

If the earlier seasons had seen Nas in the shadows of Fab4, this season has seen him emerging out of it. He scored a superb volley in the match against Aston Villa and very recently scored both goals in last weekend’s home victory against Mark “I hate” Hughes. The second was an absolute peach, flat footing the Fulham defence, goalkeeper and scoring from an impossible angle. Lightning does strike twice, no wonder that he has drawn plaudits from both the managers.

Nas has shown a desire, hunger and made the most of the absence of Fab4. There is only one NASRI and more importantly he plays for Arsenal. Just hope that the other players can take a leaf from his book.

We have got Naaaaaaaaaaasri….

Mean Lean’s Response

I am certainly feeling rather high from the Samir Nasri fumes that have been floating around the air since the weekend, well since the start of pre season in fact. We all wondered if he could maintain his pre season form into the new season and thankfully he has not only done that, he has raised his game to another level.

It was quite crazy to read the abuse he was getting from some quarters when he wasn’t performing at his best. Especially during Cesc’s end of season absence due to injury.

His ability has always been obvious, his touch and close control has never been in question, it was just a matter of time before he started adding end product to his game and now he is doing that.

I think what has been overlooked (which unfortunately is quite often the case) is that he is only 23 years old and came to Arsenal (and a new country) at 21 years of age. He had to settle into a new club and a new life style, both on and off the pitch, as well as that he was/is still developing his game as 90% of players do at that age.

So here we are! We are now watching one of the most talented teenagers of his generation in France develop into a young man in his mid twenties.

The question is, how good can he become? He can be absolutely massive. I remember when he first moved into the middle from the left flank during his first season I think, when we were chasing a result. That is personally when I realised how good he was.

He increased another level and looked very dangerous but then Arsene kept shifting him back to the left come the next game. He is now starting to make as big an impact on the game from the wide positions because he is becoming more direct.

He cannot replace Cesc Fabregas in the middle because he is not the same type of player. He is not going to sit and ping quarter back style passes through to diagonal runners like Cesc will but I would not be surprised if he starts to make just as big an impact on the game as our captain does.

We now have a player who will single handedly open spaces for others, a player who can pick up the ball from the half way line and score or assist a goal. That is one advantage he has over Cesc.

If we can keep Cesc, Jack and Nasri together then they will become the best midfield this country will have ever seen.