Play Nasri in the middle, not on the wing!
Prior to Arsenal signing Nasri, I checked a few videos of him on youtube. What I was before that was that he was Hleb’s replacement, that he was Hleb but with goals, and some even dared to call him the new Zidane. Comparisons with either Hleb or more so Zidane may be premature, indeed it took Hleb a good season to two to warm up to the hustle and bustle of the English Premiership.
One the season started, Nasri started on the left and given the guy likes to cut in from the left into the centre it seemed like a good move. It is not the first time Wenger has put a player from a more central position to the wing. He has done this with Diaby also and come to think of it, I can’t remember a natural winger apart from Walcott who actually played as a striker for Southampton didn’t he. Rolling the names, Pires, Ljungberg, Wiltord, Parlour were never natural wingers but play out wide to fulfil a certain tactical criteria of Wenger. Parlour was more of a defensive option “to add balance to the team” like Eboue is doing at the moment in the same position, right midfield/wing. The other three essentially came inside at crucial times to steal a goal.
The purpose of Nasri playing on the wide is also perhaps to improve his vision of the game on the whole. If he can affect the game just by playing on the left, imagine his performances if he is given the option to play in the central albeit in a more advanced position. And that is what we or I saw anyway against Roma the other day. Nasri’s trickery and Bendtner’s direct runs on the left shocked Roma in a tactical sense and they were not able to get over this. The interchange between the Arsenal players also saw Nasri in the most advanced position from where he headed a cross wide. The commentators said that it should have been Bendtner or even Adebayor heading that ball. I believe though however that sometimes shorter players can be just as effective in posing an aerial threat.
For a player short in height, Owen has got a fair amount of goals by heading and dare I say it he got even more than our TH14 legend himself. Think about the ginger one at Old trafford and he too damaged sides with his late runs and heading. Sometimes the shock of having a player make a late dash coupled with the ability to spring well can dismantle sides also. You don’t need a tall player always to pose an aerial threat. However, their height becomes a useful option when it comes to shielding the ball and holding it up for another attacker.
In tight games where opponents attack in a box in central area, Nasri’s trickery could be a vital cog in the machine to sweep times aside.
