Talk of 'the new so and so' annoys me to some extent, and I'm sure it annoys the players who receive the comparison. If you're Argentinean, talented, and under 5ft tall then you are automatically labeled 'the new Maradona' (I'm waiting for the day when Argentina fill an entire team with former 'new Maradonas'). And what's worse, some minute Argentinians are actually being called 'the new Messi'. The new Messi? Is Messi already so old that we need a new version of him? Can't we just enjoy the 'old' Messi while he's still playing instead of just frantically looking for the next Argentinian midget we can proclaim as his successor? How easily bored a society are we?!
This brings me to France, and the quest for 'the new Zidane'. Unlike with 'the new Maradona' however, there doesn't appear to be any physical prerequisites in order to be considered a potential Zidane. You don't have to be tall, balding, or anything of the sort. You merely have to be French and a midfielder - and in the cases of Anthony Le Tallec and Bruno Cheyrou, you don't actually have to be a particularly good midfielder; in fact you can even be a bit rubbish.
The most recent candidate that has been burdened with this impossible task (and impossible task it is, because not only is Zidane the best player I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing, but he's also truly unique, as all the great players are) is Samir Nasri. Or at least he's the most recent I'm aware of. As I said at the beginning, these kind of tags annoy me to some extent, but at the same time they intrigue me. If someone is being tauted as 'the new Zidane' or 'the new Maradona' then there must be at least some good reason as to why. I mean these players must be doing something right, and I want to see it.
In Nasri's case, all I really had to go on was Youtube clips. Now I'm well aware of the dangers of Youtube, and that you have to treat what it shows with extreme caution. After all, you could make John O'Shea out to be a midfield general, or Dirk Kuyt to be a slightly-above-average striker by showing some of their highlights from the past few years, but we all know the harsh truths about these two very poor players. And by 'we all' I mean everyone but Rafa Benitez, who should be instantly sacked on the grounds that Dirk Kuyt was still on the pitch long enough to shin the ball into the back of the Leige net - though admittedly that does seem a little ironic, or at least slightly non-sensical if you don't know the full story, which we all do, except for Rafa Benitez, who...(oh wait, I did that rant already. Neeext).
Anyway, I watched almost every Nasri clip I could get my hands on, and I was impressed. I didn't look at him in terms of Zidane, because he's not that type of player. At least not yet. But from what I saw on Youtube, he looked quick, composed, creative, and very skillful indeed, so when Arsenal were inevitably linked with signing him (he is young and French after all - which I think Wenger like to call 'the jackpot'), I very much wanted the move to happen. Not because I support Arsenal (which I don't really, though I like to watch them play), but because I wanted to see Nasri week in week out. Heck, he could have joined United and I'd have been happy.
Well, as you know, he did sign for Arsenal (eventually), and after only two and a half games I must say I'm very impressed with him. There are still big question marks of course. Though he may not play exactly like Zidane, he still needs to have that same big-game mentality that separates the Lionel Messi's from the Cristiano Ronaldo's. At 21 he obviously has time on his side, so it remains to be seen what his confidence is like in a pressure cooker situation.
He looks to be made of all the right stuff though, with many things boding well for the future. The list I wrote eariler after seeing him on Youtube still stands, with a few extras thrown in for good measure. Much like Hleb, he's a very good dribbler of the ball, but he can also pick out a pass (which is something Lionel Messi has been doing a lot more of recently, thus making him even more threatening...if that's possible).
Another very impressive attribute -- and one that likens him to Zidane in my opinion -- is that he's quite comfortable on his left foot as well as his right. In fact I can't even say with 100% confidence that Nasri is right-footed, and that's not because I'm an idiot. This trait is invaluable, as it gives him so much more time and space than most players. Defenders don't know which side to press him from, therefore they're forced to stand off him for fear of being made a fool of, which gives Nasri all the time he needs to make a decision. Also, when he's shooting, he can employ the dummy effectively, because he knows that he can get off a pretty good shot with his left foot if needs be. And when defenders learn this, they of course won't go charging down his shots in a mad rush at the risk of being dummied, thus giving his right-footed attempts a good chance of reaching their destination undisturbed. Embarrassingly few players posses this kind of two-footed ability. Nasri is one of them, and over the course of the season it will become more and more advantageous to him.
I don't want to go overboard on my praise of course. It's still early days, and there are still plenty of games to go before accurate descriptions can be made. Nasri has a lot of potential though. A truck load more than someone like Theo Walcott has, because unlike Walcott, Nasri has in his head a footballing brain. He's the kind of player I enjoy watching, and I sincerely hope he continues to improve, though not at such a rate that there will be young French players called 'the new Nasri' before he reaches his 22nd birthday. Let's not forget that Zidane didn't join Juventus until he was 24, and he didn't join Madrid until he was 29, so it's important to give players time. I said it before in a F365 mail, and I'll say it again - Our society today wants to proclaim greatness now, instead of waiting patiently for it to truly emerge. This is one of the reasons Ronaldo is proclaimed as 'the best in the world', which is part of the reason his fellow countryman Deco has been relatively ignored. Now I'm not implying that Deco is in fact the best player in the world. But in the Portugal team that played in Euro 2008, Deco was their main man. He was the one whom Portugal looked to in order to create something. He was their best player, but people will have you believe that Ronaldo is better than him. He isn't, and I'll have...
OK this has very quickly turned into a Ronaldo rant, so I'll stop. Anyway, keep an eye on Samir Nasri...or something.
This brings me to France, and the quest for 'the new Zidane'. Unlike with 'the new Maradona' however, there doesn't appear to be any physical prerequisites in order to be considered a potential Zidane. You don't have to be tall, balding, or anything of the sort. You merely have to be French and a midfielder - and in the cases of Anthony Le Tallec and Bruno Cheyrou, you don't actually have to be a particularly good midfielder; in fact you can even be a bit rubbish.
The most recent candidate that has been burdened with this impossible task (and impossible task it is, because not only is Zidane the best player I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing, but he's also truly unique, as all the great players are) is Samir Nasri. Or at least he's the most recent I'm aware of. As I said at the beginning, these kind of tags annoy me to some extent, but at the same time they intrigue me. If someone is being tauted as 'the new Zidane' or 'the new Maradona' then there must be at least some good reason as to why. I mean these players must be doing something right, and I want to see it.
In Nasri's case, all I really had to go on was Youtube clips. Now I'm well aware of the dangers of Youtube, and that you have to treat what it shows with extreme caution. After all, you could make John O'Shea out to be a midfield general, or Dirk Kuyt to be a slightly-above-average striker by showing some of their highlights from the past few years, but we all know the harsh truths about these two very poor players. And by 'we all' I mean everyone but Rafa Benitez, who should be instantly sacked on the grounds that Dirk Kuyt was still on the pitch long enough to shin the ball into the back of the Leige net - though admittedly that does seem a little ironic, or at least slightly non-sensical if you don't know the full story, which we all do, except for Rafa Benitez, who...(oh wait, I did that rant already. Neeext).
Anyway, I watched almost every Nasri clip I could get my hands on, and I was impressed. I didn't look at him in terms of Zidane, because he's not that type of player. At least not yet. But from what I saw on Youtube, he looked quick, composed, creative, and very skillful indeed, so when Arsenal were inevitably linked with signing him (he is young and French after all - which I think Wenger like to call 'the jackpot'), I very much wanted the move to happen. Not because I support Arsenal (which I don't really, though I like to watch them play), but because I wanted to see Nasri week in week out. Heck, he could have joined United and I'd have been happy.
Well, as you know, he did sign for Arsenal (eventually), and after only two and a half games I must say I'm very impressed with him. There are still big question marks of course. Though he may not play exactly like Zidane, he still needs to have that same big-game mentality that separates the Lionel Messi's from the Cristiano Ronaldo's. At 21 he obviously has time on his side, so it remains to be seen what his confidence is like in a pressure cooker situation.
He looks to be made of all the right stuff though, with many things boding well for the future. The list I wrote eariler after seeing him on Youtube still stands, with a few extras thrown in for good measure. Much like Hleb, he's a very good dribbler of the ball, but he can also pick out a pass (which is something Lionel Messi has been doing a lot more of recently, thus making him even more threatening...if that's possible).
Another very impressive attribute -- and one that likens him to Zidane in my opinion -- is that he's quite comfortable on his left foot as well as his right. In fact I can't even say with 100% confidence that Nasri is right-footed, and that's not because I'm an idiot. This trait is invaluable, as it gives him so much more time and space than most players. Defenders don't know which side to press him from, therefore they're forced to stand off him for fear of being made a fool of, which gives Nasri all the time he needs to make a decision. Also, when he's shooting, he can employ the dummy effectively, because he knows that he can get off a pretty good shot with his left foot if needs be. And when defenders learn this, they of course won't go charging down his shots in a mad rush at the risk of being dummied, thus giving his right-footed attempts a good chance of reaching their destination undisturbed. Embarrassingly few players posses this kind of two-footed ability. Nasri is one of them, and over the course of the season it will become more and more advantageous to him.
I don't want to go overboard on my praise of course. It's still early days, and there are still plenty of games to go before accurate descriptions can be made. Nasri has a lot of potential though. A truck load more than someone like Theo Walcott has, because unlike Walcott, Nasri has in his head a footballing brain. He's the kind of player I enjoy watching, and I sincerely hope he continues to improve, though not at such a rate that there will be young French players called 'the new Nasri' before he reaches his 22nd birthday. Let's not forget that Zidane didn't join Juventus until he was 24, and he didn't join Madrid until he was 29, so it's important to give players time. I said it before in a F365 mail, and I'll say it again - Our society today wants to proclaim greatness now, instead of waiting patiently for it to truly emerge. This is one of the reasons Ronaldo is proclaimed as 'the best in the world', which is part of the reason his fellow countryman Deco has been relatively ignored. Now I'm not implying that Deco is in fact the best player in the world. But in the Portugal team that played in Euro 2008, Deco was their main man. He was the one whom Portugal looked to in order to create something. He was their best player, but people will have you believe that Ronaldo is better than him. He isn't, and I'll have...
OK this has very quickly turned into a Ronaldo rant, so I'll stop. Anyway, keep an eye on Samir Nasri...or something.
2 comments:
You need to write about the Korean P.E. Teacher who saw me kick a ball the other day and called Beckham the 'Old Niall'...
Haven't seen Nasri yet outside of his goal vs WBA but with any luck he'll make a rotten first impression on me as N'Zogbia shuts him down this Saturday. Making Charles the new Maldini.
I may be wrong, but I think Nasri will be facing Beye (Nasri plays on the left), so will that mean Beye will become the new Maldini? Like N'Zogbia, he meets your 'new Maldini' requirements by being both black and French, so he's the perfect candidate really.
Should be a good game though, but with 3 Arsenal players in my FF team and one of them captain, I hope Arsenal give them a wholloping.
ps - I've used my wildcard!
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