Is too much expected of Arsenal’s Samir Nasri?

When Samir Nasri arrived in North London in July 2008 Arsenal fans soon began learning about their new signing from Marseille. There were murmurs that he was the new Zinedine Zidane. High praise indeed, and then Arsene Wenger had his say, comparing him to a former Gunners’ legend, Robert Pires:

“For me he is a player who has a good engine, good technique and vision. He can play the final ball which we like here. He has the technical level to go into any combination and is very mobile. He can replace Alex Hleb in the build-up of the game, in the creation of the chances, and he is very versatile. Maybe there is a bit of Robert Pires in him because he looks to be able to change direction very easily and a little bit the same style of run. He is a bit smaller, but there’s a bit of Pires in there.”

Such comparisons were always likely to put a lot of pressure on the young Frenchman’s shoulders. Any player in the world would struggle to live up to Zidane’s standards and Pires was one of Wenger’s most successful signings – a player who could get Highbury on its feet at will. And even Hleb was an effective player in his time at the Emirates, but let’s not forget that he was in his prime while in England whereas Nasri is still just 22-years-old. But expectations continued to rise and when the midfielder scored on his debut, just 24 seconds into the first match of the 2008/09 season at home to West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal fans were soon believing all the hype. And in that first campaign he scored a very credible seven goals and provided five assists.

This season, though, has been far less productive, largely in part to the broken fibula he picked up during the Gunners’ pre-season tour of Austria, ruling him out of first team action until November. Nasri hasn’t been quite at his best since his return but the expectations of him do not seem to have altered and many of the Arsenal faithful have been disappointed with his performances. Suggestions that he opts for the safe option on too many occasions seem to go against the previous descriptions of his ability to execute defence-splitting passes with ease. But surely this is just down to confidence? He probably does need to add another dimension to his game but there is plenty of time for that – it is easy to forget how young, like a lot of the Arsenal squad, he is. The Frenchman definitely has the ability to retain possession, due to being exceptionally comfortable on the ball, and perhaps a more central position would be far more suitable for him. But, of course, with the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song ahead of him, you can see why it is difficult for Nasri to fight his way into that central three. He is more than capable in the attacking trio but sometimes it can be difficult for him to stamp his authority on a game from there.

Against Sunderland at the weekend the young creator managed to drop into this more central position at times during the first half and he did show some great promise, testing Craig Gordon on one occasion with a powerful shot. It wasn’t an excellent performance by any means but it had more end product than in recent times. If he can build on this then he may go on and have a very effective end to his season. I just think that Arsenal fans shouldn’t expect so much of him this campaign. It is often said how important pre-seasons are for a player’s sharpness and Nasri missed the whole of his. For this reason it was always going to be difficult to reach the standards he set in his first year. Clearly at the moment he is not living up to the level expected of him. But that draws me back to Pires, who despite his cult status among the Arsenal hoards, had a slow start to his career in a red shirt. While Nasri didn’t have a slow start, anything but, he has seemingly regressed, but as Pires showed these lulls can be overcome.

Staying clear of injury over the next year or so will be important for Nasri and if he manages this I’m sure he’ll kick on. Then he can start fulfilling his potential and begin living up to some of those early descriptions.