Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Nasri, the enigma for Deschamps

I has been about week since Manchester City and France midfielder Nasri went down with a knee injury. At first feared to be the worst scenario - a torn knee ligament. However it appears that Samir will be back within 2 months. Assuming he is fully healthy when he returns he will be available for the French national team service in Brazil. So why is this a problem?

When Nasri first went down, I actually thought in the back of my head that this might be a blessing in disguise. Why? Nasri is an enigma for DD. He is too talented to be ignored, yet way too inconsistent to be relied upon game to game. And where was his natural position? Out on the left...well that is where Ribery is firmly entrenched. In the middle of the formation, that makes the most sense, but he does not seem to have the discipline to hold that position. What about the right? He seems to drift too much to keep the right side occupied. Finally does he fit in a 4-3-3 (a formation I hope DD goes with)? For these reasons I felt that if Nasri had been unavailable for selection, that might actually be a blessing in disguise.

Of course now when he comes back to full healthy, gets selected and goes on to have a monster World Cup...I will have to eat my words. Yet I doubt that will happen.

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