Samir Nasri ia a GENIUS!

Excellent signing .... but wat happened when we lost to fulham , hull city and stoke city ???

I like nasri's game also but you seem to imply the only measure of a player's worth is the number of goals he scores. Maybe the number of shots he takes. That is naive at best. Hleb ran his socks off, helped defensively, held the ball really well and provided an outlet we otherwise did not have. Nasri is having a good time but there is no need to denigrate Hleb's contribution to appreciate it

There is no comparison. Hleb was a great dribbler, that was it. Someone made the comment that you can't measure a player's worth solely on goals scored, but beyond that I can't really think of that many assists made by Hleb either....therefore there is no contest, Nasri is a far superior player. Hleb's contribution was miniscule in comparison.

Hleb opened up the tight games better than nasri does. Nasri has been anonymous in some games. he will be good though.

Hleb is a traitor who often gave the ball away in big games.
At times it cost us! Like against PSV.

Also he did'nt score enough goals or produce the killer pass very often.
We miss Flamini, but not Hleb.

Nasri is still adapting to the English game and he's doing it much quicker than Hleb did.

i guess a few comments have answered you and i will just add this.
it is said b4 a player sign for Arsenal, he is watched for long periods.
and in the case of Hleb i think the same applied. Hlebs record for his previous club in terms of goals is not any better and i think u should check that as well. i believe the coaching staff knew and when Wenger commented on those required to supply goals from midfield his name wasnt included.
you cant change Hlebs instinct at this late stage to start scoring goals.
i also think you should watch previous highlights of games with Hleb in the team and u may come to understand his role. He was the best in the team in terms of holding on to the ball and take at least 2 players out of the equation. so please dont even start to compare.
Yes Nasri will score goals and might eventually turn out to be better but i will always miss Hleb in this team

Nando,

Hleb held the ball well, and had some assists. Lets stop there. he did not work his socks off to dfend. that's where he and Wenger collided heads. In the midfield, Hleb gave no defensive support and was often victim of the defensive substitution. His fitness was also a joke. Late in games he had no legs left

Hleb demanded to play behind the striker, but didn't shoot or score enough to take up that vital slot (when you play for a club creating chnaces like Arsenal, a supporting striker must shoot and ocassionally even score). He's a nice squad player to have, but exists mainly for his own amusement.

If your going to articles like this it would be nice if you attempted to delve into with more detail and analysis, and not like a ten year old simpleton.

Yes, Nasri scores goals, we get it.

Doesn't explain why he was poor at West Ham and has been on the bench of every away game since then does it?

Hleb is a very good player, Nasri is a very good player. We should have had both of them.

In the long term Nasri's goals should mean he's a better fit for a team like ours, but it's poor form to denigrate Hleb's contribution by using the same measuring stick With Rosicky injured, Hleb was the only wide player who busting balls all season while Walcott was playing like a spaz and Eboue was being his usual joke. Hleb was just as important as Cesc.

What's with all the Hleb loving! compared to Pires and Overmars he's nothing. All he could do was dribble. The only thing he won while at Arsenal was Belarus Sportsman of the Year 2006.

He'll do nothing at Barca. He also keeps trying to persuade Cesc to join him at there, traitor!

"Excellent signing .... but wat happened when we lost to fulham , hull city and stoke city ???"

He wasn't playing - that's what happened !!

Hleb, Hleb, Wherever you may be....
Warming the bench for the Barca team?
Well we don't give a F*** wherever you may be
Cos we've got Samir Nas-a-ri !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i hate when we compare players as soon as they leave.i wont be surprised if a we start comparing fabregas with ramsey when he leaves for barca.hleb is better than nasri at the moment.nasri is yet to prove himself-use the stats plse

Nasris only weakness is that he is injury prone :S I have a friend that is a marsille fan and he says that if it wasnt for his injuries he would be the best player in the world by now :P

Another reason not to doubt Le Boss. Arsene Knows. Hleb didnt have that many assists either. We all know we needed to shoot more and i'm glad nasri likes to have a pop. You never know, sometimes you get a deflection like saturday. I liked Hlebs' dribbling and passing abilities but he always dwelled on the ball too long and had very little end-product. As for people saying he helped defensively?? I always saw him as more of a hindrence than a help, zero physical presence and gave away silly free-kicks. I wish him the best at Barca but i'm glad we have Nasri. He is going to be one of the best. And i think Vela can be the next Ronaldo. I'm really excited for the future

To Nando: Thanks for your contribution, you took the words right out of my mouth. I enjoyed watching Hleb and I bet you Arsene in his reflective moments misses him like mad. Cesc has not been the same since Hleb's departure and he has gone on record to say so.
Please leave Hleb be as we begin t enjoy what Nasri can offer.

WTF walcott playing like a spaz at the end of the season he was the only person playing Hleb was full on shite i hate him nasri is a million times better we miss flamini but no not hleb the wanker ill admit cesc not as good but that not cos of hleb becase of flamini dumb ass
SAMIR NASRI OVER HLEB ANYDAY

Its not a question of Nasri or Hleb, its Walcott or Hleb. And Hleb wins that battle every day of the week.

Nasri has replaced Rosicky in the team and is doing fine. Walcott, however, is so defensivley suspect that we have to play Diaby in a five man midfield and does not even do enough going forward to justify his inclusion.

The sooner we start playing Diaby on the right, the sooner we will play better.

And Hleb had a great influence on our team last season. Much more than Walcott will have on us this year.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=x3CPUKr5hRM

they are two individuals with individual qualities & talents...Y the comparison?...they are both Good

Nasri will be great for us, but i miss Hleb, i don't understand the people that slagged him off, he was an outstanding dribbler and passer, he could twist and turn out of the tightest predicament, and his performance last year against Ason Villa at Villa Park was one of the best of any player for years! Ok, he didn't score many, but he was a very important component of our team, and we still miss him!

I think a lot of people are understanding what Hleb is all about. He was the player that made Fabregas look good.

He was the best dribbler in the premiership and was tremendously hard to dispossess. He may not have had many goals or assists but his passes and dribbling were more often than not the opening to create chances for the assist. He was able to beat a couple of men with his dribbling skills, the only other midfield player we have now capable of doing that is Diaby. Also, he isn't a proper Winger other and his best position is central. In fact, he would have been a perfect replacement for Fabregas.

Anyone remember hleb's assist for fabregas away to liverpool last season that levelled the game at 1-1? Go watch dat assist again and tell me how u feel about him as a player. I'd rather have both him and nasri together.

I think that we may soon see Arsene try a 4-3-3 system much like Barcelona and Inter Milan use with 3 central midfielders and two highly capable wing forwards supported by a central striker.

I guess something like:

............................Alumunia................................

Sagna..........Toure..........Djourou..........Clichy

..........Denilson........................Ramsey.............

................................Diaby.....................................

........ Walcott.................................Vela................

.............................Bendtner.................................

I think that eventually Vela and Walcott will become wing forwards supported by a central striker who is able to link up between them and I think that Bendtner will be the striker who will do that because he can play with both Walcott and Vela and I see reminicences of Bergkamp in him. People slagged him off after the Man U game but forget that he was up against the best central defensive partnership from last season in Ferdinand and Vidic with hardly any support. I think he did quite well considering.

Fabregas is a hindrance to the team when he is off form.

Denilson is way, way under-rated by many gooners who havn't got a clue about football. The few that do, will realise how important he has been for us this season. Did you know for instance that Denilson has bettered Fabregas in almost every stat and one of the top tacklers in the premiership too! For instance, he had a 92% pass completion rate against Man U with 61 out of 65 passes made, yet still people criticize him. I think that he is one of them late bloomers and in a couple of seasons if not sooner we may well consider him to be better than Fabregas.

Ramsey has greater potential. Already at such a young age he is proving to be as influential as Fabregas was at his stage but with better defensive capabilities.

Diaby will never be a strict defensive midfielder but if he concentrates on his attacking instincts he can be the marauding midfield general linking the defence and attack. This guy will soon be considered truly world class I believe.

Arsenal the first to start with 3 central attacking minded midfielder...then duplicated by many team....

Exactly Nando!!

Hleb was a fine Aersenal player. It's his loyalty that I would question. I am very impressed with Nasri at the moment. Hopefully he can build on it.

Hleb was an amzing player and did light the field on fire with his dribbling.
He was also very good at unlocking tight defences - probably better than Nasri.
Having said that Nasri has an end product and his crossing for Bendtner and Ade is also a lot better.
So in conclusion, Hleb is better that Wengerball but Nasri is better at football.

Someone else alluded to it: Nasri and Hleb do different jobs. Hleb controlled the speed of the game - changed the direction of attacks, and then with unbelievable speed and close control he would change direction and set up a chance - maybe not the final killer ball, but the prompt before that - a footballer through and through, and a pleasure to watch.

Nasri is very much like Robert Pires, lightning fast at turning defence into attack, good feet, a good shot, able to link up with a striker - I imagine playing with an in-form and young Henry, Nasri would have been the fourth muskateer. Nasri is not as intelligent, nor as skillful as Hleb or Rosicky, but a fantastic asset and one which will only get more valuable as he plays with Rosicky, fabregas, eduardo etc. and yes, he'll weigh in with goals too.

If we were to play Big man Adebayor with little man/ goal poacher Vela or eduardo, and have the Nasri / Clichy combo raiding from one side, with the sagna walcott/ rosicky combo raiding from the other - we can afford to play Fab + Song to balance the midfield. (I like denilson, but if he plays there are too many small people, need Song, Djourou, Adebayor, Gallas, Sagna at least in the prem.

I personally want to see Djourou coming through, he's the marauding giant centre-back we've been needing for some time.

All just my opinion of course

Brilliant post different strokes, my opinion entirely.

Hleb was great in his arsenal days no doubt but on days when the chips were down and we needed to score a goal or two to win games he just wasn't there. Imagine how flawless last season would have been if hleb scored the winning goals in some crucial games (say the big games we drew). In a team like arsenal where creating chances isn't the problem but how to finish them off i say NASRI is better.
If hleb were to be in Nasri's shoes in the game against man*ure we simply would have lost the match ...simple!!

If we had Hleb today, do you think we would have let tottenham comeback from 4-2? No way. Would we ship those late goals? No way - his ball retention was amazing, and if the other team doesn't have the ball, the other team can't score.

Hleb was amazing, and I miss him very much - its a shame it didn't work out between Arsenal and him. Nasri is clearly a brilliant player, but he's yet to find a role to call his own in the team - I'm looking forward to watching him progress into a world beater.

November, if Fabregas was in Nasri's shoes we would have lost by your logic!

Remember, we should not be comparing Hleb and Nasri. Wahcott is playing in Hleb's position with Nasri replacing Rosicky. Had Hleb been playing instead of Walcott we could have won by a lot more. Saying that, we could have lost.

Nobody knows what will happen in a game of inches.

Maybe its just the quality of the feeds that I watch the games on but Nasri seems to go missing a lot and, despite a bright start, has been disappointing. But he scored two goals against united so he must be better than Hleb. By that reckoning Adebayor must be 20 time better than both. Barcelona was a crazy place for Hleb to go because he was never going to get look in with xavi, inesta & messi, but had he stayed at Arsenal he would probably be broken in two like Eduardo. He suffered a lot of nasty tackles so I dont blame him for ditching the premiership.