Ratings and post-match discussion vs the Renties

[russkiegooner]

Kalou, Mikel, Ramires, and especially Essien, were always really quick to get out and double-up on him with Ferreira. They were clearly scared of him, and it was the same in the ManU game the other week too.

To me, Chelsea's midfield were just aware that Ferreira was the weak link. They did it with Nasri as they did it with Walcott in the second half when he started giving Cole trouble. With little success.

In my view, Nasri's relatively weaker performance against Manure and Chelsea was much more down to his general tiredness. He'd been overplayed since the beginning of the season and seemed less sharp to me in these games.

But well, that's football and everyone's entitled to his or her opinion on the subject.We both agree he's a classy player though...

 

[Klaus Daimler]

Nasri wasn't anonymous, he nearly scored 3 goals.

Not sure what you're talking about. Let's say that his exquisite chip in the first half is one. Kakuta's Christmas present is one more. Regarding the latter, I'd rather hold it against Nasri who bottled a splendid chance offered by the opposition to definitely kill the game. Which is the third? The free-kick in the first half? That was a decent attempt at best but hardly "nearly scoring a goal". Have I forgetten anything?

His passing was generally sideways and backwards bar the one-two with RvP in the first half.

As for the opposition being "scared" of him, the same argument was often put forward to justify Arshavin's weak performance. I'm generally rather sceptical about this kind of thing.

I rate Nasri highly and has done so since his beginnings in Marseille but he was pretty average yesterday, bar the chip. Don't understand what he does in the MOTM poll, honestly. Walcott deserves it much more, IMO, despite having been terrible for the first 30 minutes.

I got mixed up thinking it was 3 chances, but I maintain the rest.

Kalou, Mikel, Ramires, and especially Essien, were always really quick to get out and double-up on him with Ferreira. They were clearly scared of him, and it was the same in the ManU game the other week too.

I thought everything he did was classy. From the neat little through balls he found van Persie with 2 or 3 times - especially the brilliant one-two that Robin fired over the bar. To the searing speed he showed to skin Ferreria in the first half, and the fact that he barely gave the ball away, even when surrounded, he always had the ability to cleverly manoeuvre the ball and find a team mate. All of that, and a very god shift in pressing the ball and tracking runners to boot. All round a classy performance from a classy player.

What can I say? Well put, ricky. I completely agree with all of it. Did people actually watch Nasri play last night or did they just look at the names on the scoresheet? He was brilliant, challenging two or three, sometimes four, Chelsea players on his own. Someone said that van Persie held up the ball brilliantly last night but in my mind it was Nasri. It's a testament to his ability that they crowded around him as soon as he got the ball. It created so much space for the rest of the players too. He might not deserve the majority of the votes in the poll, but was he one of our five best performers? Without the shadow of a doubt.

 

[DK Gooner]

Nasri may not dictate the play of the game as much as Cesc or the woefully inconsistent AA, but his retention of the ball and drawing of opposition players is vital for opening up the space for others to flourish. He also works hard to get the ball back as did Theo which made us far more solid down the flanks.

 

[Anzac]

Funny that not so long ago Nasri was being slated for not moving the ball quickly enough & for slowing down our play = just goes to show it's all about the roles they are given & the balance in the team. Walcott was also double teamed for much of the 1st half (until about the time that Ca$hley got his card), but I thought Nasri was able to deal with it better because of his ball retention skills. Nasri has the same capability as Hleb to hold the ball, but with end product.

AA provides the other side of the coin to Nasri = he looks to keep the ball in motion unless he has it in the final 3rd, hence the flick ons etc in the middle of the park so as to keep the ball beating the man.