Nasri, making his mind up

[Arjan Van Schotte]

BTW - what is wrong with Clichy?
Was he just knackered or could he not be arsed? Never gets tight or closes the attacker. He was the same over there

Not having that; Clichy had another decent game with absolutely sod-all protection last night and Ajax recognised this by loading up (especially on his side of the pitch in the first half) and frequently had 2 v 1.

simple answer to that i reckon. sergio aguero is not a left midfielder - and only bob thinks he is. everytime ajax got the ball, they ALWAYS had the option of pinging it out to their right.

[Moonchesteri]

you must be joking. if anything running at players seems to be one of our main attacking plan. how many times has Tevez, Aguero, Yaya, Dzekp, Milner, Nasri picked up the ball and run down blind alleys, it happens every game. Mancini even said it was the game plan in ajax.

Also we have to remember that teams set up differently when playing us and we dont get space to run in behind. we do try but one player againist 3-4 defenders is not gonna be sucessful.

We need to learn to move the ball fast and move and pull their defenders around the place.

I may have been lost in translation. I'll try to explain myself later. But basically I'd want our players to try to dribble past defenders more often when they're one on one outside the box

[Ted Hughes]

Nasri has never been the kind of clever player that Silva, Mata etc are, apart from for a very brief spell at Arsenal but he's no mug either & produces moments of true class. But he is not just a creator & makes Mata in particular look like Robinho when we lose the ball.

He ran his bollocks off last night & still used the ball with intelligence, if not being exactly inspired. If he puts in that much effort then he will allow us scope to bring in another Silva type player & then, his game will go up another notch & his talent will come through.

He isn't a Silva, he's a sort of half Silva, half Barry & consequently we lack the extra bit of inspiration or midfield genius when we ask Nasri to do it. He can't. So long as he puts that kind of shift in, he's alright by me though.

He has to do that imo, to be worth a place, as his atacking game whilst decent & occasionally brilliant, is not quite at the level we need & never has been.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

BTW - what is wrong with Clichy?
Was he just knackered or could he not be arsed? Never gets tight or closes the attacker. He was the same over there

Not having that; Clichy had another decent game with absolutely sod-all protection last night and Ajax recognised this by loading up (especially on his side of the pitch in the first half) and frequently had 2 v 1.

It was also very noticeable in the first half especially in Amsterdam.

[Ted Hughes]

BTW - what is wrong with Clichy?
Was he just knackered or could he not be arsed? Never gets tight or closes the attacker. He was the same over there

Not having that; Clichy had another decent game with absolutely sod-all protection last night and Ajax recognised this by loading up (especially on his side of the pitch in the first half) and frequently had 2 v 1.

It was also very noticeable in the first half especially in Amsterdam.

If we had a midfield player of quality, who could run like Clichy, we would go up 50% as a team. Some of the ground he covers is incredible.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

BTW - what is wrong with Clichy?
Was he just knackered or could he not be arsed? Never gets tight or closes the attacker. He was the same over there

Not having that; Clichy had another decent game with absolutely sod-all protection last night and Ajax recognised this by loading up (especially on his side of the pitch in the first half) and frequently had 2 v 1.

It was also very noticeable in the first half especially in Amsterdam.

If we had a midfield player of quality, who could run like Clichy, we would go up 50% as a team. Some of the ground he covers is incredible.

I hope you haven't misunderstood me, I very much like Clichy. I was referring to how exposed he was during the first half in Amsterdam. Last night similar was happening, both our full backs drift infield too much when the ball is on the opposite side, and Ajax were able to find their wide players with far too much ease. Zabba was getting a torrid time of it too in the first half. The whole team looks so narrow.

[Blue In Bolton]

BTW - what is wrong with Clichy?
Was he just knackered or could he not be arsed? Never gets tight or closes the attacker. He was the same over there

Not having that; Clichy had another decent game with absolutely sod-all protection last night and Ajax recognised this by loading up (especially on his side of the pitch in the first half) and frequently had 2 v 1.

It was also very noticeable in the first half especially in Amsterdam.

If we had a midfield player of quality, who could run like Clichy, we would go up 50% as a team. Some of the ground he covers is incredible.

I hope you haven't misunderstood me, I very much like Clichy. I was referring to how exposed he was during the first half in Amsterdam. Last night similar was happening, both our full backs drift infield too much when the ball is on the opposite side, and Ajax were able to find their wide players with far too much ease. Zabba was getting a torrid time of it too in the first half. The whole team looks so narrow.

Agreed about the narrow aspect to the team, mate and also with Arjan about Sergio not being a left-sided midfielder. It seems that Bob doesn't like playing with wide players at all and it just seems that at the moment that he is not addressing problems that appear to be mostly of our own making.

[Ted Hughes]

All part of the downside of being an attacking team imo. If you have effectively 2-3 strikers plus Yaya on the pitch, some areas will be open as players try to cover other areas.

For all that, the oppo don't score many because of it, they score more because of people not doing their basic jobs at set pieces or not picking up players in/around the box, rather than out wide.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

All part of the downside of being an attacking team imo. If you have effectively 2-3 strikers plus Yaya on the pitch, some areas will be open as players try to cover other areas.

For all that, the oppo don't score many because of it, they score more because of people not doing their basic jobs at set pieces or not picking up players in/around the box, rather than out wide.

It leaves a very easy 'out ball' though and allows teams to alleviate pressure and leaves us vulnerable to the counter attack

[I Just Blue Myself]

Drifting infield is necessary to stay compact! Rather leave holes on the flanks than between defenders in the middle of the pitch. I don't blame Clichy or Zabaleta one bit.

And I also thought that Nasri was really up for it last night. Worked hard, covered a lot of ground at the back, but pressed their defenders & keeper as well at times.

[Cocacolajojo1]

And I also thought that Nasri was really up for it last night. Worked hard, covered a lot of ground at the back, but pressed their defenders & keeper as well at times.

Yeah, and I'm not saying he hasn't.

I was merely pointing out that it hurts in my bones every time he gets stuck, like a rabbit in the headlights, when he's confronted with a player from the other team. Other than that he's mint.

And as Ted pointed out and other have said, perhaps he wasn't bought to be an attacking player like at least I thought but more to be something of a box to box midfielder. That doesn't change the fact that it's painful to see him freeze.

I randomly chose to quote your post in order to reply to your and many similar comments about Nasri. No offends.