Barca have Messi ... Arsenal have Nasri!
December 14th 2010 17:35
Barcelona are regarded by football fans worldwide, as the best team at playing the beautiful game, well, beautifully. The whole team think like one brain, when one of their world class stars sees a pass, the other player makes the run. The 11 players on the pitch are linked by almost a sixth sense. But then there is also the playmaker, the man in the free role, the superstar of the side .. Lionel Messi.
Arsenal are seen as almost a second rate Barcelona. I don't mean that as an insult, as being second to only Barca as the best footballing team in the World, is fantastic. The London side also play this fluid style of football, entertaining fans of the club, and many neutrals. Despite being a Newcastle United fan, I just love watching Arsenal and Barcelona play football.
But when the sides met in the Champions League last season, there was an obvious gulf in class between them. The teams almost cancelled each other out, except one player ... Messi. He was the difference, scoring four goals at the Nou Camp, settling the tie. So the difference between them was simply, Barcelona had their superstar playing the free role, Arsenal didn't.
However, this season has seen the emergence of Arsenal's very own Messi. Samir Nasri joined the club from Marseille in 2008, for £12.5 million. At the time, he was one of the biggest prospects in world football. But like a lot of players that move to the Premier League, it has taken the Frenchman a couple of years to settle in, playing mainly out on the wing.
At the beginning of this campaign, I tipped that Nasri would come good this season. If one manager can be commended for making sure his youngsters reach their full potential, it is Arsene Wenger. In the first half of this season, Nasri has gone from a winger, to the most instrumental figure in the Gunners side. He is now playing that Messi like, free role behind the front man, and is excelling in it.
I know a lot of people will scoff at this report, saying that Nasri is not in Messi's league. I agree, that right now, Lionel Messi is a much better player than Samir Nasri. But at just 23, I think he may just be developing later, and I think one day soon, the French midfielder will be regarded as one of the best players on the planet.
Nasri's awareness to find space, quick feet, brilliant dribbling, speed on and off the ball, and eye for goal, all remind me of Messi. They are of similar height and build, and are not like Ronaldo for example, out and out goalscorers. But there movement and skill see them pick up tons of goals. Anyone who saw Nasri's two goals against Fulham last week, would agree that they were world class. They were the types of goals, which Barcelona fans have become accustomed to their superstar midfielder scoring.
To really be regarded as on par with the Argentinian, Nasri needs to become consistent. He needs to make sure this start to the season, isn't just a flash in the pan. Fabregas's injury problems have probably helped earn him a more central role in the side. But he should learn from Messi, how to always be influencing a game, whatever position he is playing.
For me, so far this season, Samir Nasri has been the outstanding player in the Premier League. Should he keep developing like he has in the last six months, comparisons to Lionel Messi, may well become more widely accepted.
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