yeah so do i. whats your point?

But people at Croydon don't want to..

He is a good player

Thats because we can't afford Mata. Does anyone with an ounce of common sense believe a youngster like Ryo can replace Nasri?

Its the same as believing that Ramsey can replace Cesc. This is not going to be a good season.

He will be like a new signing

Super new and squeaky clean.

He might not get a visa though as he hasn't been capped for Japan yet at senior level as far as I know.

Personally i reckong another season in Holland wil ldo him the world of good. No point keeping him here and playing him a few games here and there when he can get a full season under his belt.

Talent like Ryo doesnt need to be rushed into the XI

Does anyone with an ounce of common sense believe a youngster like Ryo can replace Nasri?

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Replace Nasri? How does that work? We have Gervinho and Walcott for the wide positions, with Arshavin and Rosicky also available.

If Miyaichi was a Feyenoord player who we were linked with for £20 million you would be creaming about the prospect of him coming in. Just because he is alredy owned by us makes him useless??


Ryo would be a good option to have in the squad.

Do we assume thats the end of Mata then?

I doubt the work permit thing will get done, and he'll probably be on the way back to Holland this season.

Shame - I'd like to see him play a role. People have moaned incessantly about Nasri and his lack of directness, with some justification.

Miyaichi would certainly cure that, even if he will be a bit wet behind the ears for a while.

Do we assume thats the end of Mata then?

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I have always assumed Mata coming in would depend on Cesc or Samir leaving, and I still believe that to be the case.

http://news.ar$eblog.com/index.php/2011/08/arsenal-bid-for-mata-confirmed/

Maybe there's still some life in this story afterall?


(replace the $ with an "s" in the link first.)

"Replace Nasri? How does that work? We have Gervinho and Walcott for the wide positions, with Arshavin and Rosicky also available."

Thats because you don't understand how we play. Essentially we have two creative players in midfield and one direct player at goal from midfield. The creative players are distributed one out wide and one coming from deeper. Thats why Arsene rarely played Arshavin and Theo together. They replicate each other as the direct player.

Now we are about to lose both our creative players. Mata was supposed to replace Nasri out wide.

Of course Rosicky could be one of those two creative positions. And so could Ramsey. Thats how we played on Sunday. But as Sunday showed we were ineffectual against a very poor team. Ramsey is two years away from taking up that role full time. He has lost pace since his injury. He could that back because he is young enough. But I wouldn't count on it. Rosicky has been past it for the last 3 years. As was shown in our cup games when he couldn't open up 3rd division defences.

Arsene does not dare put Rosicky as the central creative player because he loses the ball too often with a casual pass. Thats why Arsene was after Mata. Gervinho is a backup/replacement for Arshavin and Theo as the direct player from midfield.

Without Nasri and Cesc we are absolutely done for. Thats why Wenger was willing to forgo the £10m offer from Man City for Nasri.

comment by Jenius99 (U4918)

Please tell me you aren't serious in listing Nasri as a creative force in midfield for Arsenal.

He's a very good player, but from what I've seen with him in the middle, creative (at least to the standard Arsenal need) he is not.

Arshavin could do the creative midfield thing though, but you've only mentioned him as a winger. Wenger might like to keep him there, but from what I can see of players left, combined with additions, it seems to me that Wenger is trying to get more flexibility in midfield and attack.

Assuming Fabregas goes I think Nasri, should he stay, will be a major disappointment as a creative force, at least for others.

He might do it for himself, just not the team.

I disagree with you on Nasri. I think he is terrifically creative. However he is not atypical Arsenal player. Nasri does not play first time blind passes. He does not play passes to space. He does not play passes based on expectation. So he looks slower. Nasri is a perfect technical player. A Chelsea player if you like. A Mourinho player. Thats why I am surprised Mourinho hasn't gone for him. Maybe he will with Benzema coming the other way in the last moments of the window.

We did very well with Nasri in the middle when Cesc was recovering from world cup duties. And if he does sign on I would expect Matta in the Nasri role and Nasri in the Cesc role. The two creatives. Who knows Nasri maybe waiting for Cesc to leave before signing on.

Arshavin cannot make a pass greater than 5 yards. An essential skill for creative players. in fact for most players these days. Arshavin is however fantastically direct. And you need that in the team as well. If he ever gets his form back. I would personally sell Arshavin and start Gervinho/Theo as much as possible with Mata on the other wing. If we get him. Which you can never tell with Wenger.

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Comment deleted by Site Moderator

To my mind, the main difference between Nasri And Fabregas, is that Cesc has that uncanny knack of knowing when to mix it up a bit - sometimes holding possession, other times playing quick incisive passes - which makes him far harder to read for the opposition.

Currently, Nasri lacks that a little. Too often opting to hold onto the ball, when releasing it earlier might create havoc in the final third. It makes him far easier to read and therefore makes him less effective when played through the middle.

It shouldn't be forgotten that this is of course a tricky role to play in the side. With more starts there, perhaps Nasri will become more assured and with a growth in confidence, his speed of thought will improve accordingly.

Having said all that, if Cesc does leave, Arsene really needs to reinvest his transfer fee into strengthening other areas within the squad and then adapt and amend our overall game accordingly, as I'm not too sure that there is a direct replacement for Cesc out there at the moment... not one that we could afford anyway.

"there is a direct replacement for Cesc out there at the moment... not one that we could afford anyway"

Kaka is and is available for almost nothing. Wages are a stumbling block but can be negotiated down in exchange for playing time.

However I would personally like Arsene to abandon 4-3-3. Buy Benzema, and partner him with RVP in a 4-4-2.

Selling Arshavin, Cesc and Nasri will make it easily possible to get Benzema, Mata, Cahill and a good goalkeeper and still have change left over. The problem with changing to that formation is that we will also have to make Song a backup and buy a slightly more proficient midfielder, Inler/Melo type. But as these two are players are available the cost would be very little.

Now it has been difficult getting rid of our crap. Eboue, Almunia, Rosicky, Vela, Traore, Bendtner. Arsene has to do it or our wages will stop us getting anyone or signing anyone with quality to a long contract.

"However I would personally like Arsene to abandon 4-3-3. Buy Benzema, and partner him with RVP in a 4-4-2."

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That's something I opt for too, even though many think 4-4-2 in a thing of the past.

Inler and Melo have just signed for Napoli and Galatasaray respectively, (though the latter is a loan deal) but I'd avocate signing a better DM anyway, simply because, though I like Song, to my mind he's a squad player really. A decent squad player, but nothing more.

But then no one is as good as Cesc.
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I appreciate where you're coming from, but as I've said countless times before, Nasri's best attributes are his pace and skill and when he's accommodated on the wing, he can use them competently. Nasri doesn't have the mould to become a creative CAM because he doesn't have the ability to read the game well and his passing isn't guileful. I also think that he doesn't penetrate enough and does make the wrong decisions when he's on the edge of the area/inside the penalty box (i.e. opting to shoot instead of making a simple pass, attempting to take players on too often). He's not as much of a TEAM player as Fabregas is.
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I believe one reason we don't see defence splitting passes is because the opposition play deep against us.
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A crucial part of playmaking is anticipation. You need to have that killer instinct as to where the forwards should be and link-up well with them. Fabregas has the aptitude to pick out passes which not many other 'creative' players in this world would be able to do. He has great vision. And if Nasri was going to take the burden of Cesc, he would have to accept that he would not be able to dwell on the ball, he would not be able to dribble as much as he would generally like to, he'd have to have a great range of passing and would need to acknowledge that he'd be creating more than he would be scoring goals.
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What I class as creativity is when we disrupt the oppositions formation enough to create space for the 'direct' players' to go through on goal.
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Well, that's where we may differ I suppose because I do believe Arshavin is capable of disrupting the opposition's formation enough to create space for others, but I do completely understand where you are coming from.
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get Kaka
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Personally, I've always felt Kaka is overrated. A very good player, with tremendous skill and dribbling and can pick out the perfect pass, but he is injury prone and is inconsistent. Besides, as you say, wages would be a stumbling block because he thinks he's better than he actually is. I feel that I see a more direct, mobile player in Nasri than kaka.

"That's something I opt for too, even though many think 4-4-2 in a thing of the past."

Not the 4-4-2 we used to play. Really its a flexible formation. It depends on who plays in those positions.

For example. Henry/Bergkamp, Pires, Paddy, Silva, Freddy were 4-4-2. However essentially it was also 4-3-3, Henry to the left, Dennis the creator in the middle, and Freddy cutting into the box as a supplementary striker. Freddy was a striker at the beginning of his career. All our players were fast and could finish.

At the moment we have 3 creators and one finisher. Thats why we don't score goals as we used. Frankly we would have done much better if had sold RVP and kept Adebayor. Not because of their quality as RVP is far more talented but because of the type of player.

Thats why Benzema fits the mould so well. He is Henry. So essentially we would going back to. Benzema for Henry, RVP for Bergkamp, and Theo/Gervinho for Freddy. And Mata just behind for the Pires role.

But as I think most people agree, we would need someone the calibre of Paddy to partner Wilshere. Song doesn't have the coverage or passing range for that. And Frimpong is a complete gamble.

Now Arsene could take a complete gamble of someone like Joel Campbell to do the Benzema role but there is no way he would have the character or name to push a system change to work. You would need a far bigger transfer name for that. Thats why I believe Arsene has to do whatever possible to get Benzema if Cesc and Nasri are both sold.

I'd love to see us sign someone like Benzema. Three things will probably stop this happening though.

Firstly Mourinho's insistance that he's not for sale. Secondly Wenger's reluctance to pay the kind of money that he'd probably cost. And lastly, signing Benzema would "kill" Afobe.

Not sure what the excuse not to sign Mata is though. I can only presume that he wasn't as interested in him as the media made out.

I always look at a transfer window as a typical dance around negotiation. I have done it at corporate levels so many times.

Mata - Valencia were pointing out that his release clause is not valid anymore. So everyone says the deal is off. That makes a huge incorrect assumption. That we were ever willing to offer the amount for the release clause 22m Euros. I think we offered around 18m euros. And the club is now trying to get offers from Man City who want Nasri, not Mata. There is no way the player would be willing to go to any club outside the top 4 so we can discount Spurs. Essentially we are waiting for Bendtner and Nasri or Cesc to go before we will bid for Mata. Far from dead.

Benzema - Ignore Mourinho. Why is he talking about Benzema? Why is Benzema denying rumours? The fact is that Mourinho wants Benzema gone and he wants to go. The rest is for the consumption of the Real Madrid fans. What happens if Benzema is an instant success at Arsenal. Mourinho knows that a French manager could get a good response from him. Mourinho doesn't want to be blamed if that happens. He would much prefer it if Benzema says he wants to go. That way he can't be blamed. Benzema doesn't want to do that because he would lose a lot of money if he did. So Mourinho says I don't want him to go (of course he does) and Benzema replies, it not me guv, I want to stay. Either way they both want it to happen if a right bid comes in.