Regular readers will know that the constant criticism of Arsene Wenger for not anticipating the departure of Nasri and not buying a replacement by the press and the media in general, really wound me up.
Their ignorance was astonishing given that Nasri had played all last season on the left of our 4-2-3-1 formation and we had signed a player of Gervinho’s quality to play in that position 5-6 weeks before Samir departed.
I for one was delighted at the signing of the Ivorian and considered it excellent business given the huge price differential between the player arriving, desperate to play for Arsenal and the one leaving, seemingly so ungrateful to Wenger and our great club.
Given the recent announcement of Gervinho’s listing in the top 10 nominations for African Player of the Year, now would be a good time to compare and contrast the impact on Arsenal and the fortunes of the two players.
Gervinho has truly found his feet in the Premier League in October, and the flashes of brilliance we had seen in August and September, such as the amazing dribble and cut back for RVP in Udinese, are now becoming a regular feature and the final pass more telling. In fact, in October alone our exciting and unpredictable winger provided 4 assists in the league along with a goal, as well as one further assist in Europe. He and Theo have begun switching flanks during matches, which has undoubtedly helped both players and the team as a whole. It is abundantly clear for all to see how much our talisman skipper is appreciating playing alongside him. Gervinho already has 2 goals and 6 assist in just 11 matches this season.
Astonishingly, given the competitive nature of our squad in the Ivorian’s position, Gervinho has started every game in the Premier League, for which he has been available for selection, which clearly demonstrates the faith that Wenger has in the player. It also illustrates just how wrong the critics were in their continuous contention that Wenger had not planned for Nasri’s departure.
By contrast, our erstwhile hero Samir Na$ri certainly does not find himself so highly thought of at his new home in Manchester.
Was Nasri able to enjoy his teams 6-1 demolition of United from the bench, before he was finally brought on for the last 15 minutes? In reality I am sure he will enjoy his time at City and one has to believe he will win silverware, but what is plain for any observer to see is that he is no longer a go to player for Mancini. Since his ineffectual display in the home tie against Villareal, which lead to a comment from Danny Mills, a pundit for the BBC, saying ‘he may as well not have been on the pitch’, the Frenchman seems to have dropped below the dynamic Milner in the pecking order.
In the 14 games for which Nasri could have been involved since his move from the Emirates, he has started only 9, and been taken off in 7 of those, brought on as a late substitute in 3 and unused completely twice, including the last match at QPR.
Man City have switched to the same formation as Arsenal, so it should suit Nasri, but the harsh truth is that in a 4-2-3-1 it will always be a three of Silva, Toure and Aguero in the big games. Nasri must fight for the scraps of playing time with Milner and Adam Johnson. Meanwhile, Gervinho is one of the first names on our team sheet and seems to be improving week in week out in the position the Frenchmen vacated.
I for one am quite pleased with the lack of foresight Wenger showed when he failed to replace Nasri with Gervinho, who I confidently predicted will end this year with 10 plus goals and 20 assists.
A firm single finger salute to the press and I’m sure their apology to Wenger will be forthcoming in the very near future!
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Yeah the guy have done wel bt no apology to the Prof becos nt all the players bought are good likes of chamak,squlaci,djorou etc. But shld do rite at the rite time next time.
gervinho is rubbish!!! not a good player at all would have kept Bendtner!!! and he is rubbish too!!!!
Clearly rubbish when he has played a part in most of RVPs goals. Get it right before u complain 😉
I agree with this blog. Gervinho is a really good player, and in my opinion is finding his feet a lot quicker than Nasri did when he arrived. I also agree with Miggles1996 that Gervinho has been instrumental in some of the goals from van Persie. He has great movement and anticipation on and off the ball.
What a silly comment. Gervinho has played very well, settling in well. A very useful player in the team/squad. I would have loved the nasri situation turn out completely different, in the end, he didn’t want to play for us. He’s not exactly setting the world alight at city. He must have known he wasn’t going to play anywhere near as many games as he would at arsenal. I for one would love it if city didn’t win anything. They are playing well at the moment, we can only hope they suffer a bad patch, and the other teams, including us, can capitalise.
YOU ARE RUBBISH BY WRITING THIS COMMENT !
the guy clearly aint an arsenal fan if he thinks gervinho is crap so just ignore the moron !!
has this idiot ever watched Gervinho play?
You get use to morns comments but tis one takes the biscuit!!
You should eat sh@t not dirt you fool.
U must be joking, if not then u are a fool and thats why u eat dirt. Idiot
Eat dirt? Talk sh#t? Muppet, do you even watch football? Trolling c$%t!
Hey EAT DIRT, this is not golf…dont mix your sports you moron..this guy is improving and will be an excellent addition to the squad for the next few seasons to come.
Did you say Gervinho is rubbish??? you must be outta your sight and mind.2 goals and 6 assists in 11 matches a rubbish???? People cant stop amazing me..
Gervinho has settled quickly and it is clear that he is on the same wavelength as RVP.
RVP clearly benefits when Gervinho is playing.very good bit of business from Le Boss. Now TV is back and JW returns we will be pushing for honours I’m sure of it.
As for Na$ri well what can I say! I hope his money makes him happy as he sits on the bench and watches his career pass him by!
for a guy to bear ‘eat dirt’ means he speaks dirt.i wouldnt blame him.as for gervinho u r d gunner’s bomb,let nasri get his mega bucks from the bench @ etihad stadium.UP GUNNERZ
Nasri is on Adebayor, Kolo way. He’s to be loaned after two seasons at city and they will come for Gervinho. When shall they learn that they need Arsene and not Arsenal players? Mancini cannot bring them the class of fantastic football the prof displays.
I fully agree with u, Man city builds its team by destroying arsenal, every year they come for more than one player at the same club. its time FA put a clause to stop such sickening trends.
Do your know that arsenal team this year is better and more mature than last year? In goal szceszny is better than almunia,right wingback jenkinson is potentially better than eboue as a back up,thank God we now vermealen back from injury,calming metersacker and a more matured and now french international koscielny are zillions of years better than our central defence of last year anchored on djorou and snaillaci,santos is more suited to our attack oriented play than cleanshit now of man shitti. Even our midfield is more dynamic,more defensive compactable and alot high definition team work than last year. Unlike last last year,the team is not built around just one midfield meastro( cesc) but more flexible and interchangeable,where cesc cant tackle arteta or ramsey can. With the rejuvenation of rosicky(is he looking for contract extension or he has finally gotten over his injury problems?),and the eminent return of wilshere we just need to sign Gotze to assist Ramsey in what i called exquisite pass playmaking role making roll because wilshere is more like arteta. Thank God we now have two capable deputies for Søng( coquelin and frimpong) unlike last year. Let’s extend Arshavin contract to protect AOC and Ryo for one more year from undue pressure. Gervinho is far pacy,team player and never say never attitude than six months wonder na$ri.Sign american shea and push walcott to the firing line with Rvp
i salute mr.wenger for his well done transfer business…people said he did not have replacement for na$ri..but le professor did anticipate na$ri’s departure and bought gervinho..as for cesc’s replacement am sure a special player is on the way coming
Since it was expected that Fabregas would leave, I felt Wenger had always planned to play Nasri in the centre and therefore he brought in Gervinho to play in Nasri’s old position on the wing.
Nasri had to go and screw it up by leaving, but at least we brought in Arteta and Benayoun to help fill the void.
cesc’s replacement is injured and will be back in Jan/Feb.
Your article is right on and you are to be commended. It is unfortunate that we have so many illiterate morons who look at your site and think they have things of importance to share with all of us.
Gervinho is turning out to be the real deal for us.
Nasri can be an excellent player as well but, he is far to inconsistent in his quality of play. You never know if he will show up for a game. Most often, he is invisible on the pitch.
Gervinho is very consistent and is improving with every game he plays.He is a beautiful acquisition.
Arsene, you got us a dandy and with each game he shows us that we got the better of the Nasri -Gervinho transaction.
We got Gervinho and $ 15 million Euros for one Nasri!!! Shucks, you couldn’t get Arsene or any other manager to trade Gervinho now for a Nasri plus $15 Million in cash. Awesome !!!!!!
Go Gunners….