Is Samir Nasri becoming a bit-part player at City?
Samir Nasri’s stock has never been higher than this summer following a great season at Arsenal. The Frenchman was mooted as the missing link to both Man Utd and Man City’s title hopes this campaign. His creativity, movement and quality in the final third are without question. However, what may be, though, is his role in Mancini’s plans, which since the debacle away at Bayern Munich, has been reduced to one on the periphery.
The Bayern Munich game appeared to mark a watershed moment for Mancini for several reasons. While not choosing to ignore the moment that hogged the headlines (and still does) with Carlos Tevez’s apparent refusal to come on as a sub, two sub-plots have also come to light.
Kolo Toure was unfathomably restored to the first-team line-up despite a six-month absence in the place of Joleon Lescott. An error so great that it threatened to put paid to any hopes City had of qualifying out of a difficult group, with the Ivory Coast defender’s ring rustiness notable. The other being that this was the final point in which Nasri’s name became a guaranteed starter on the team-sheet.
Nasri made his debut at White Hart Lane on the 28th August in a 5-1 demolition, with the new signing blending into the squad fantastically well setting up three of the goals in the process.
Against Wigan he came off the bench with half an hour left to play and was integral in increasing the 1-0 deficit. He started the next two games against Napoli and Fulham, with Adam Johnson coming on as a late sub for him both times, before starting their next league game, the 2-0 win at home to Everton.
However, since the Bayern game, in the eight games that have proceeded it, he has started just four of them – against Wolves in both the league and the Carling Cup and against Villarreal in the home and away ties in the Champions League.
He came off the bench after 27mins against Blackburn away from home, was an unused sub against Aston Villa at home, he came off the bench with the job already done against Man Utd with the scores at 3-1 and 15mins left on the clock and was an unused sub against QPR.
Since the Bayern game, by which time he had settled into the side superbly and was a regular, he has seen just 347 minutes of football in the next eight games across all competitions. Only 177 minutes have these have come in City’s last five league games. His role has rather unquestionably been reduced, but why?
The recent resurgence of James Milner may have something to do with it. Milner offers industry and a degree of creativity. His all-action style has been ideally suited to difficult league ties against the likes of Aston Villa and QPR.
Whereas the Bayern game may have marked a watershed moment, the real turning point came with Mancini’s preference for Milner over Nasri for the 6-1 humbling of fierce rivals Man Utd at Old Trafford. The shock result of the modern Premier League era.
It appears as if Nasri has now become the first name on the team-sheet for the Man City B-team. Through no real fault of his own and in part because others have grasped the opportunities afforded to them, he has fallen down the pecking order.
Aguero and Silva’s places in the starting line-up appear untouchable. Gareth Barry and Yaya Toure remain for the time being important parts of the Man City machine. There appears to be two spots up for grabs in the long-term – in which four players (Milner, Balotelli, De Jong and Nasri) have to fit into.
Nasri has swapped regular football at Arsenal where a trophy didn’t look like coming any time soon, for a crack at a higher level and a much better chance of silverware. The result has been that’s he’s fallen from a leading light of the Premier League to an also-ran of it’s best side. In an instant, he’s gone from a lead to a supporting actor.
Many felt that Arsenal could ride the blow of Cesc Fabregas’s departure as long as they kept hold of Nasri and installed him as their creative hub. His transfer to City marked a re-aligning in the pecking order – City had finally pinched a player that Arsenal had wanted to keep hold of. Whereas once, he was a jewel in the crown, now he’s little more than a pearl on an admittedly priceless necklace.
Man City do have a large squad filled to the brim with top-class internationals. Mancini will inevitably have to rotate many of them in an attempt to keep the whole squad happy, but it’s noticeable that there have been no injuries in this unusually long sequence of intermittent bench-warming.
Nasri has set up six league goals so far this term, second only to his City team-mate Sergio Aguero. Only at a club such as City would this sort of form fail to guarantee you a starting place. With Mancini’s charges facing a run of Newcastle (H), Napoli (A), Liverpool (A) and Arsenal (A), it will be interesting to see how much he’s involved, for it could hold the key to his Man City future and the nature of the role he has to play in it.
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He wasn’t risked at QPR, James, because he was carrying a slight knee injury. Is that allowed? Samir is a great player, but Yaya and Dave would comfortably grace any team in the world, in similar positions. He’ll have his chances, nontheless.
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Samir Nasri signed for City on August 24th. Since then they have had 15 competative games, Nasri’s played in 12 of those. He, along with several other first-teamers, was rested for straightforward home games against Birmingham in the League Cup and against Aston Villa in the League and didn’t play against QPR because he was injured, as confirmed after the game.
Perhaps it might be an idea to write about something noteworthy instead of fabricating articles out of nothing in the future, or at least to do your research.
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No – he’s played most our games and was injured on Saturday but it was too late to take him off the bench. Next.
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I think the previous comments have summed it up quite nicely. Try doing a spot of research next time eh?
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“Man City do have a large squad filled to the brim with top-class internationals. ”
I thought the 25 man squad rule meant squads are the same size? But yes, it is filled with quality players courtesy of our wonderful owner and managed by a superb manager who knows how to get the best out of them.
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Yet another groundless story about City in which the author pays scant regard for any kind of fact in a bid to destablize the club in his own pointless little way. There was actually an article a couple of days after the derby that stated David Silva was open to a move to Barca or Real in January. These are the days of mountains out of molehills and chasms out of cracks where City are concerned. They’re all real scared.
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No creativity, no way he could have replaced cesc Fabregas.
Reality is that Nasri was never suited to the creative midfielder role, being too slow and taking too many touches before beginning to dribble. He also seldom does the nice pass, he should only play on the wing. Just look at David Silva and you will understand the diffence between a true midfielder and someone whose deficiences have been hidden by Cescy’s class.
Clearly there are better players on the wing and in the midfield in Manchester City, he’ll just be a joker for Mancini.
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Red Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
You’re an idiot and a hater.
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kun>messi Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 3:17 am
“No creativity”
6 assists in 7 league games, 3 of which he started on the bench.
Try again.
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Yes, he should have stayed at Arsenal the greedy man.
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A note to City fans – you are a big club now, your fans have to start acting like you support one now.
I know this siege mentality has become your hallmark since you got mega-rich, but taking to criticise anything just because it’s not overly positive about City is ludicrous.
The stats speak for themselves – 177 mins of Premier League football in the last month or so.
He’s involved still, yes, but he’s far from the regular he, you or anyone would have forseen.
This ‘they’re running scared’ mentality is laughable. Too long you’ve lived in the shadow of your neighbours and for too long now you’ve become embittered. Enjoy your success while it lasts.
Bloody nora, my Utd supporting mates always go on about how City fans are so precious and sensitive, looks like they were right after all.
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It’s a squad game. Nasri is a very good footballer who will play his part for City before the season’s out.
You can point to money as the reason he left Arsenal but who can blame him? More money and a club with realistic ambitions of winning trophies? He would have been a fool to turn down the opportunity.
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