Written by Mark Brus on Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
09 Mar	7:45 PM	CL	Fc Porto (H)	5	0	Win

Looking at the way the side has played this season, and reading some of Wenger's quotes about Samir Nasri, I think the boss has let something interesting slip.

Ahead of tonight's game with Porto, naturally, a lot of the attention was on Nasri, who is expected to fill in for the injured Fabregas tonight.

Nasri is a player who's confused me a lot this season, but Wenger was quick to talk up the player's strengths, saying: "He has good technical potential. He is very versatile too. He can play defensive midfield, attacking midfield and on the flanks. We have a few players like that and I love that.

"If you ask any player where he wants to play, they will say in the middle. He is happy to play there but I believe with the pace he has he can play on the flanks as well."

These are exactly the areas I would use as criticism of Nasri, but Wenger admits that he 'loves' it when a player has no set position.

In the 4-3-3 he's played this season it's even harder to tell what our players are meant to be doing. We have about 5 players in the attack who are all doing pretty much the same thing. They're all expected to swap positions with each other and be part-central midfielders, part-wingers and part-strikers all at once.

Someone like Diaby has played every position from defensive midfield, to left wing, to striker for Arsenal. That says it all.

When you look at how the season is going, perhaps it's unfair to criticise. It's probably a formation that's brought out the best in the likes of Fabregas, Diaby and Arshavin, and has the potential to suit Theo Walcott in particular - another player who Wenger can't seem to make his mind up on...is he a striker or a winger? Both...or neither, so put him on the right of a 4-3-3 where he can do a bit of both...or neither.

I'm not a fan of this cheap total football copy the boss is going for. It worked quite well at times in the Invincibles era, but it's very ambitious, and it needs to be built upon stronger and more experienced foundations. Back in those days we had a more solid back four, and two dominant central midfielders in Vieira and whoever was partnering him. Now we rely solely on Alex Song to fulfill that role, while the front five ahead of him move around everywhere and confuse our game.

It's got us surprisingly far this season, but it was evident in the big games that the players in this front five where getting in each other's way and not providing us with enough cover in midfield.

Song-Diaby-Fabregas is probably our most solid midfield three, but upfront is up for debate. van Persie and Arshavin slot into it nicely, but Walcott, Nasri and Rosicky don't really provide enough.

Like Wenger said, they have some of the attributes to play there, and some to play in other positions. What does he make them focus on in training? Being central midfielders, wingers or strikers? I don't want to see a team full of players who are a bit qualified at everything, I want players with clear and defined roles. It has to be said, that these days it works very well.

The player I keep thinking about is Antonio Valencia. He didn't impress me much at Wigan, but put him in the Man Utd side and he just fits in perfectly, because his strengths compliment the strengths of Rooney perfectly. Those two have been devastating this season, and not because they constantly swap positions, simply because they're so good at what they do, no matter how predictable it is, that sides can't deal with it. How many more Rooney headers from Valencia crosses will we see before the end of the season?

Nasri needs to have a good game for us tonight, that much is true, but what constitues a good game from a player with no position?

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