Torres, Carroll, what about Nasri?
The laughing stock of the Premier League over the past year or so has undoubtedly been the inept forward play of big money signings Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll. The strikers moved for a combine fee in excess of £85million last January and have equally been in dreadful form since the high pressure, hefty transfer fee move.
There is no way that you can hide from the form of the pair, but with a slight improvement in recent weeks with Didier Drogba and Luis Suarez absent, despite not hitting the net, I feel the pressure on the strikers may be easing and performances rising. But until the goals begin to flow, Torres and Carroll will not be let off the hook and time will tell whether they will ever turn into good signings for the amount of money that was spent.
But this season I feel we have seen another calamitous big money transfer that has made absolutely no impact at all on his club since arriving in the summer. Samir Nasri disgraced Arsenal fans by demanding that he moved to the interested Manchester City; who love taking a player from North London; in the summer and unfortunately for Arsene Wenger and the club, there was nothing they could do.
The Frenchmen had his best ever goalscoring season last time out at the Emirates with 15 goals in all competitions from midfield and was one of the Gunners best players in a side that is entering a stage on transition once again under Wenger. The 24-year-old wide man joined City for just over £25million late in August last year but has failed to impress at the Etihad stadium so far since the transfer and is certainly not first choice in his position under Roberto Mancini.
Only eleven league appearances this season for Nasri has confirmed that the likes of James Milner, David Silva, Gareth Barry and Yaya Toure are most definitely ahead of the former Marseille youngster in the pecking order and in my opinion deserves a similar amount of criticism as Torres and Carroll for greed and performances.
One goal from open play this season; in a team that has scored 57 in the league already and we are only in January; is not a great return for more than £25m, even if it seems City can afford to lose that amount of money. The fact that when Nasri does get in the City team he is playing with the likes of Silva and Sergio Aguero has allowed him to go unnoticed for the majority of games so far and while Manchester City keep winning, that will stay the same. Torres and Carroll will play up front on their own when selected in their respective teams and so will have plenty of attention on them throughout the game, with their clubs depending on them to score goals at crucial times. Nasri, like in last night’s 1-0 win away at Wigan, can play for an hour and lose the ball regularly, create nothing for his side and still not one mention of his poor performance and big money transfer was highlighted in this morning’s press.
Nasri’s decision to join City, in my opinion, was made for all the wrong reasons and the fact that he is happy to sit on the bench each week in order to win trophies is something that Torres and Carroll certainly can’t be accused of. He was one of the best players in an improving Arsenal side that gave him big opportunities in the past. Yes, a player can’t be blamed for the ridiculous transfer fee, but his performances have been nowhere near good enough so far in this campaign and it is about time that was noticed.
Is Nasri still a good piece of business for City? Let me know on Twitter: @Brad_Pinard
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I agree he moved for all the wrong reasons and he hasn’t been nearly as impressive as he was last year, on the other hand he already has more assists for City this year than he did for Arsenal in the whole of last year. Maybe he’s just got a different role at City…
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City boy Reply:
January 17th, 2012 at 4:33 pm
He is still learning his role at City and has made many assists this season which people choose to ignore when judging his contribution.
How effective was he when he joined Arsenal? Nasri will get better and better with time. As a City fan i remember November last year when people criticised David Silva for not contributing enough. Where are they now? Probably trying to suggest Nasri is a flop too.
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This is a poorly-written article. Nasri has struggled but he’s played half of City’s league games this season, in a team which emphasises squad-rotation, scoring twice and making 6 assists.
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He hasn’t lived up to his fee but to compare him to Carroll or Torres, is ridiculous.
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With the amount of goals City score and the quality in their team; which is better than Arsenal’s has been for a long while; you have to expect Nasri to improve and his stats to only get better. His overall contribution this season has been poor, whether he set up a couple more goals does not mean he is playing well and was a good signing. Stats really do not tell the story all the time.
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City boy Reply:
January 17th, 2012 at 4:52 pm
His contribution has been satisfactory. He will improve more as he settles into a new area with a new team and a new manager. Judge him when his career is over or at least next season to be fair(fair doesn’t apply to City though). He has moved on and so should you. Deal with it.
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Arsenal fan? Thought so ….. It really is boring, dull, repetitive and inaccurate but if it compensates for Arsenal’s lack of ambition then feel free to delude yourself. Nasri is settling in well, plays as often as not and has moved to a team where he may actually win something.
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Not an Arsenal fan, completely impartial, I disagree that he is settling in well, having watched all of their televised games, in which he hasn’t started too many, he is lacking creativity and looking out of his depth next to Silva.
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Hi Brad, neutral here too but interested in watching Man City’s development.
Nasri cannot be compared to Silva, not only is there a gap in class between them, they’re also different players. Nasri’s role at City is not as the attacking fulcrum as he was at Arsenal (minus Fabregas). He’s in the side to retain possession in tight areas all over the pitch and link up with the forward line. I think the jury is out on him at the moment but, if may be so bold, feel that you’re jumping the gun with this piece. He’s no flop like Torres and Carroll at all. Next season will be the time to judge if his move has worked out.
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Cheers for a more mature response Dylan, I can see where you are coming from. I agree you cannot fully judge him yet, but for £25million he has not delivered anything like what he should have in six months.
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Melon Man Reply:
January 17th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
It doesn’t matter if he cost £25 quid or £250 million, if it takes him a year to settle into the ManCity way of playing, which is radically different than the role he filled at Arsenal, then that’s how long he needs – and I might add that Carrol and Torres ought to be afforded a lot more patience before getting on their respective cases too.
Money does not guarantee a player can fit straight in to a new team, that’s totally down to many other variables, such as confidence, suitability to the physical demands (more defending in Nasri’s case at City – quantify that if you can), compatibility with team mates, settled partnerships etc..
You state “I agree you cannot fully judge him yet, but for £25million he has not delivered anything like what he should have in six months.”
So you partially judged him with this article eh?
I recall a whole raft of big money signings of players at City who were deemed to be flops – Tevez, Silva, Yaya Toure amongst others – now they are deemed to be World Class, having settled in – there’s no set timescale for reaching peak performance when joining a new club, each player is an individual, and takes as long as they need if the club is supportive, which apparently City are thank God.
Everyone else’s opinion is frankly unimportant.
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Surely he hasn’t perfrmd as ws expctd by mny City fans but I think Nasri hsnt been as dump as Torres and Carrol.Give Nasri chance am sure he wil perfrm as per hs standards.regrds to all
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It’s not surprising that people seem happy to give Nasri time but they didn’t with Carroll and Torres!
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i don’t think that Samir does no impact in the teams side!!!!!!!!!!!!
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