Dazzly Nasri Takes Us Top
10 comments December 5th, 2010
Arsenal 2 – 1 Fulham (Nasri 14, 75, Kamara 30)
Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
If Samir Nasri was British, he’d be being talked up as the Footballer of the Year in waiting. I’m not denying that Gareth Bale, the current darling of the media, has had a good season. Better than good. But Nasri, on current form, is better than better than good. He is exceptional.
His brace yesterday took his tally for the season to eleven. But whilst it was the precise quantity of his two goals that gave us the victory, it was the exquisite quality that will see them talked about for a long time to come. Whilst I don’t think either goal quite bettered his extraordinary slalom against Porto last year, they were noteworthy for the same outrageous close control and sumptuous finishing.
It is said that Nasri learnt to ply his trade playing street football in Marseille. I’ve never been to Marseille, but I imagine it must have very narrow streets. Nasri finds space in the tightest corridors, wriggling past opponents like an octopus through a keyhole.
Form is crucial in football, because it brings with it confidence. At the moment Nasri’s is sky-high. Everything he tries comes off: whether that be volleying a lofted corner past Brad Friedel last week, or side-stepping two sliding Fulham defenders before lashing in to the top corner for yesterday’s opening goal.
We could well have scored before then. Mark Schwarzer was in inevitably impressive form, and denied Andrey Arshavin from close range in the opening moments with a superb save. The Russian was perhaps inspired by the ridiculous boos of the Fulham fans incurred by his ‘World-cup winning’ speech, and promptly finished a dazzling run by playing in Nasri, who surprisingly shot wide.
When the goal did come, it was no surprise that it was that same pair at the heart of it. Arshavin collected a piece of miscontrol from Aaron Hughes, tore at the Fulham goal, then poked a ball to Nasri on the right. First Hangeland, then Hughes were sent tumbling by Nasri’s deft feints. And then, with one swing of the left boot, a goal. Nasri was in such devastating form that Mark Hughes withdrew the teenage left-back, Matthew Briggs, after just 28 mins.
After taking the lead, both the team and the crowd became a little lax, and Fulham came back in to the game. Their equaliser, however, came about in bizarre circumstances. Laurent Koscielny collided with Sebastien Squillaci, and was apparently concussed. Had he fallen to the ground, the game would almost certainly have been stopped. Instead, he staggered on, and Diomansy Kamara was able to exploit the gap he left to nip in behind and beat Fabianski.
Johan Djourou was rushed on as a replacement, and clearly took a little while to acclimatise to the pace of the game. Fulham were understandably keen to exploit this, and Fabianski had to pull off a cracking save from another one-on-one just moments later.
At half-time, the nerves in the ground were tangible. Our inconsistency at home this season is well-documented – and to make matters worth, both Spurs and Chelsea were leading.
The main problem in the team was that our backline looked too exposed. The defensive midfield pairing of Jack Wilshere and Alex Song simply weren’t ‘defensive’ enough. Song in particular had a nightmare of a game – his passing was all over the place, and when that’s the case the last thing you want to see is him strolling forward and venturing in to the final third – especially when a game is so delicately poised. That said, it’s hard to believe he’s doing so entirely of his own volition: Arsene has plainly changed the system to allow he and Wilshere to bomb on alternately. I’d suggest letting the naturally more creative Jack worry about getting forward, and telling Song to stick to what he does best: keeping it simple and breaking up the play.
In the second half, we were stabilised somewhat by the manner in which Johan Djourou grew in to the game. He’s never been particularly aerially dominant – this is the only six foot three defender who occasionally stays back on attacking corners – but yesterday he rose to meet every challenge with aggression and, usually, success. It was great to see. Arsene said of his performance:
“He is doing very well. He has been out for a year and as you have noticed I have rotated him a little bit. We do not want to lose him and a guy that has been out for a year you cannot play him three games a week. From the start of the season he has gone from strength to strength and today, in the difficult period when we had to defend in the air, he was dominant. He has not only shown dominance but also personality.”
With Koscielny due to miss a couple of games with a head injury, Djourou has a real chance to establish himself in the team.
In the search for a winner, Arsene threw on Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott, and it was the Dutchman who created our winner, receiving a pass from Andrey Arshavin and laying it in to the path of Nasri. The number eight had been switched in to the centre, and showed why with a mesmerising waltz through the penalty area and around Schwarzer, finished with a pirouetted shot to score from the tightest of angles. 60,000 fans held their breath as he danced between the Fulham challenges, and the roar of exhalation and exaltation that greeted the finish could probably be heard back in Nasri’s hometown.
There was still time for a few more scares – Dickson Etuhu coming closest – but we held on for a vital three points. News of equalisers for Birmingham and Everton meant that not only had we won – we were top of the league.
It’s an important victory and one that hopefully puts our home hoodoo to bed. We owe it to one man in particular. Arsene said of that man:
“We scored two exceptional goals from Samir that were a combination of touch, intelligence, special talent and calmness. He needed to be patient to finish in both situations and he did very well. I’m happy because he had a game that at the start was only based on coming to the ball and now he has more variation in his game. His game is improving and of course he is more efficient.
I always was a strong believer in him. Many people questioned me when I took him here but he is showing that he has exceptional talent and I think there is more to come from him.”
What’s more, he’s got a cracking song. Altogether now:
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na…
