Love It

I can't let this week pass without giving mention to Samir Nasri's beautiful nutmeg in the game against Porto on Tuesday. He was in his own half, surrounded by two players, and instead of passing the ball back or launching it up the touchline, he just dropped his shoulder and slid the ball right through Meireles' legs, and then proceeded to play a pinpoint pass to Sagna on the far touchline.

It was a sublime piece of skill, and more importantly, it shows how confident he is in his own ability.

Now, stop getting injured.

Sublime Arsenal and High Horses

After last weekends shambolic display against Fulham, Arsenal needed to show some kind of response (beating a side managed by Shteve McLaren didn't count). They certainly did that yesterday, and then some. First things first though - Newcastle, even at full strength, are not a particularly good team, despite what Newcastle fans might think. I may be wrong about this, but as far as I'm aware they haven't beaten a side that finished in the top 10 last season since Keegan's second coming. If you can find a result to disprove that statement then please inform me, because much like the theists of this world, the burden of proof lies on you.

Unfortunately for Newcastle fans however, the team that faced Arsenal was by no means a full strength Newcastle team (whatever that looks like) - proof of which was Ameobi's inclusion in the starting 11 (the extent of his contribution being to block a goal-bound effort from Michael Owen - an effort which was pretty much the extent of Owen's contribution also). Newcastle were missing players like Duff, Martins and Viduka - none of which are world beaters, but all of which are better than Ameobi (he was so bad I've even seen it fit to make fun of him twice in one paragraph).

With the context of this game out of the way, allow me to praise by far and away the best team performance I've seen this season. Though Chelsea's demolition of Portsmouth was ruthless, efficient, and at times very pleasing to the eye, this Arsenal performance had beauty stamped all over it.

I find it hard to believe that this can be the result of the mere introduction of one player - Cesc Fabregas. Does he really make that much of a difference to Arsenal? Surely no one man can transform a team to such a large degree. However, if such men exist, then Cesc Fabregas is surely one of them. He was magnificent yesterday. So magnificent, that he even covered up for another shaky display from Denilson. His passing was crisp and incisive, his tackling was hard, his work rate was exemplary - he was just superb in all aspects of the game. And this, remember, was his first Premier League game of the season. No matter what club you swear by, you really can't help but appreciate the kind of football he plays. To say anything to the contrary would make you a bitter, blinded person in my opinion, and one who doesn't truly love the beautiful game.

There were other star performers of course. Robin van Persie looked sharper in both his passing and his shooting. He really is a class act, and I hope he gets a run of injury-free life to prove as much (mind you, he did his obligatory hobble off the pitch with about 30 minutes to go, though news emenating from the Arsenal camp is that he's okay, which means we've most likely seen the last of Robin van Persie this season). Adebayor was a constant threat also, though I still question his work rate and, um, clinicalness [?]. Eboue was a menace, and surprisingly for a player of his standards, he didn't give the ball away very often. In fact it was proposed to me by a friend that Eboue has been Arsenal's most consistent performer so far this season. Given how bad Arsenal had played before yesterday, it was hard to argue with such a seemingly propostrous statement. For me, I think Nasri has pipped him, but if someone somewhere gave Eboue an 'Arsenal Player of the Month' trophy, I would have few complaints.

Speaking of Nasri, he was once again impressive, without being exhilarating. He kept the ball well, and made some nice cutting passes, but the majority of Arsenal's play came from the other side of the pitch where Cesc Fabregas tends to hover so that left him a little starved of good possession. Nasri did however do one sublime maneuver, when he picked the ball up just outside his own box, fended off a few Newcastle challenges, and advanced with the ball right through the heart of the midfield before laying it off to someone else. A lesser player would have either been dispossessed or just hoofed the ball clear, but Nasri showed great skill and composure, and started an attack from nothing. This bodes very well for the future.

There was a little incident involving Nasri at the very end of the game, which showed that the Zidane comparisons aren't just restricted to purely footballing ability. Having been on the end of a legal but overly physical challenge (in my opinion) from one Joey Barton, Nasri responded by later tripping up Barton as he ran towards goal. It was harmless enough, but deserving of a yellow card nonetheless. However, Keegan gave Nasri a large piece of his mind after the game, which was nothing but built up emotions due to Barton's return in my view, and something wholly uncalled for. Barton went in strong, Nasri responded rather impishly by tripping him up, and that's that. He got his booking, now lets move on. Keegan didn't, and came out saying that Nasri 'sliced' Barton down. Sliced!? He barely even stuck out his leg as he ran across Barton, which hardly constitutes a slice. Keegan was well off with his assessment of this whole situation in my opinion, and I think his verbal attack on Nasri was an example of someone channeling their emotions in the wrong way. Not the first time such a thing could be said about King Kev, though I do admire his passion.

Whether Barton should have been playing or not is another matter. One thing I don't understand is people getting up on their moral high horse, almost as if Barton is the only misbehaving footballer out there. If you want footballers to be pillars of morality then fine by me, but then why are people like Rio Ferdinand, Craig Bellamy, John Terry and Dirk Kuyt playing our game? (Dirk Kuyt isn't a thug as far as I'm aware, but still it must be asked at every opportunity- why is he playing our game?) You can't just let the antics of some footballers slide, or just give them a slap on the wrist, but then come down like a ton of bricks on someone like Barton, just because he's an easy target.

If Barton or others break footballing rules, then they should (and hopefully will) be punished by the letter of the law. With regards matters outside of football however, either you punish all non-football related behaviour by varying degrees (depending on the indiscretion) based on some kind of legislation, or you allow the club to punish non-football related incidents as they see fit.

John Terry and some team mates got drunk the day after 9/11, swore, vomitted and stripped off in front of American tourists staying at a hotel. That's as much a sackable offense as assaulting someone if you ask me. But that's just it - it's not up to me to decide what kind of moral behaviour demands sacking or not. If Newcastle want to keep Barton on their books, then that's their decision, and no one is in any place to say that they're doing the 'wrong thing'. And if they decide to play Barton in a game that he's strictly eligible for -- even though he's got a misconduct hearing in a few days -- then they have every right to do so. Maybe it's not the wisest decision, but it's Newcastle's decision to make.

Objective morality should either permeate every aspect of football, or no aspect. You can't just bring it in when it's convenient to do so. That's not how life works, and it's not how football should work. You either legislate for moral behaviour across the board, or you allow a club to punish someone in their own way. And if you choose the latter, then you are in no position to say a club is 'wrong' for not sacking someone or for playing someone who's available for selection. You can say you think the club is wrong, but that's as far as it can go when no objective standard is in place.

These are just some of my thoughts on the matter, but I'm yet to really think them through so they're a little rough at the moment.

Anyway, the main thrust of this post is that Arsenal were a joy to watch yesterday, though Newcastle's inadequacies should be noted.

The New Zidane?

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.

Awfunal

("Damn you, ground!!")

The above title is a mixture of the words 'awful' and 'Arsenal', a la 'Bennifer' etc etc. I'm referring to Arsenal's performance against Fulham in Craven Cottage, which was -- you've guessed it -- awful. About as awful as the Olympic Final was boring, and that's saying something. Where do you even begin?

Before the game, Wenger was talking about how his team needed to be focused and all that, but focused is pretty much the opposite of what they were the entire game. Clichy and Sagna both had shockers on the flanks. The worst I've seen either of them play in an Arsenal shirt. Miscontrolling the ball, sloppy passing. In fact you could use those phrases about everyone on the team...except Bendtner. He actually went one better and managed to not touch the ball when he came on after 60 minutes. It was actually quite impressive now that I think about it.

The central midfield was non-existent. I hardly remember hearing the name 'Denilson' followed by 'Eboue' from the commentator, because they just could not/did not pass it to each other. Moreover, they could not/did not pass it to anyone - or at least anyone on their own team anyway. Bullard and Murphy just over ran them, eventually reducing Arsenal to either going long or pumping balls in from the flanks, few of which were any good.

Up front, Van Persie on a good day could have scored a hat-trick. This was not one of those days however, and he wasted most of the good chances Arsenal had, all but one of which came from outside the box, highlighting just how unpenetrative Arsenal really were. His partner in crime Adebayor faired slightly better, hitting the post in the first half, but his general play was poor at best, leaving me feel vindicated in thinking that a 25m move to Milan or Barca in the summer would have been very good business for Arsenal indeed, provided Wenger didn't blow it all on inexperienced toddlers.

Speaking of inexperienced toddlers, I must not forget young Theo Walcott, who pulled a Frank Lampard and was practically anonymous for the 60 minutes he managed to stay on the field. He was brushed off the ball on a number of occasions, and for all his blistering pace, he almost never troubled the Fulham left-back. This will not be the year Walcott comes of age. I can all but guarantee that. He may yet become a good player, but right now he's not good enough to play on a big 4 team, and I don't think he will be for a few more years. Once Rosicky and Eduardo come back, Walcotts appearances will be few and far between. If it were up to me, Vela would be ahead of him on the pecking order, but it's not up to me, so who cares?

The one half-decent player today from an Arsenal perspective was Samir Nasri. He had a pretty brutal first half, but he definitely posed a threat in the second, showing good pace and strength down the wings. Like all of his colleagues, he gave the ball away cheaply at times, but even after todays shocker from the Gunners I still saw signs of him being a very good signing for them.

Take nothing away from Fulham of course. They out fought Arsenal, and out played them for large spells too. Had they been more clinical on the break, it could easily have been 3-0. As I said, Bullard and Murphy were immense in the middle, but it really was one big team effort, with everyone putting their all into winning this game. Simply put, Fulham wanted this win more than Arsenal, and they got it. That makes me happy.

Where to for Arsenal now then? It's obviously early days yet, so I don't want to read too much into things. They have problems though. Big, midfielder-shaped problems. The real Denilson is not the player he was today, but I think he's still not ready to be adequate back-up for Fabregas, not to mention his midfield partner. Eboue is just rubbish and needs to be beaten and then sold, or just given away. So in my opinion, him starting in midfield is not an option, to put it mildly. I like Song, but he hasn't got enough experience to be the new Flamini. But then I guess Flamini didn't quite have the experience to be a Flamini either, but that didn't stop him from being a big player for Arsenal last season.

When all is said and done, Arsenal desperately need at least one midfielder. But even if they get Alonso or Inler or whoever, I still think they're short a body. As it's plain to see, when Fabregas is out Arsenal stop ticking. Now of course losing a player like that would hurt any team (except Barcelona), but you must have a back up. Either have a guy come in who's similarly creative, or have an experienced guy come in who won't do anything silly and will keep things tight. Arsenal don't seem to have anyone who can do those jobs against an in-your-face team like Fulham were today, and they'll suffer the consequences until they do.

While having Fabregas back will be a massive boost, it will only temporarily cover over the cracks, just like Ronaldo's phenominal goals tally covered over the cracks in Man Uniteds attack last season. I genuinely fear for Arsenal over the coming months, because I think they had their chance last season and missed it. Will players like Fabregas, Adebayor and all be able to raise their game to last years heights again? Will they have that same hunger and desire? Or will they just drift through one more year and then move on to Barcelona come next summer?

Like I said, we're only two games in so you can't read too much into it. I'll be very interesed to see how Arsenal respond to this loss next week when they face the high-flying Newcaste United, and more pressingly, I'll be very interested to see what goes on in the transfer market, because that needs to be Arsene Wenger's first stop before he shakes hands with KK and bitches and moans on the sideline.