Player Focus: Club Form Suggests Deschamps was Wrong to Oust Nasri
City fans might well insist Edin Dzeko, Martín Demichelis and Samir Nasri played an important role in their title win this term. The former duo in particular were criticised early in the season, but impressed as the Citizens sat atop England’s top tier come the final day. Both were rewarded with a place in their respective international squads for the World Cup. The same, however, cannot be said of Nasri.
The midfielder was overlooked by Didier Deschamps, which saw Nasri’s girlfriend tweet an expletive-laden rant in the direction of the France boss. Some feel the City man was deserving of a place with Les Bleus in Brazil following a notable campaign. His average WhoScored rating in the Premier League this season (7.31) advocates as much.
Regardless, Deschamps felt the 26-year-old did not deserve a spot in the France squad for the World Cup, much to the surprise of the supporters, even if the snub was for non-footballing reasons. 7 goals and 7 assists in the Premier League, directly contributing to 13.7% of City's 102 goals, is a decent return for a player in his position and it's reasonable to suggest that Nasri would likely have been selected for any other nation as a result of his performances.
Yet, the former Marseille and Juventus midfielder opted for the inexperienced duo of Clément Grenier and Antoine Griezmann, the diminutive Mathieu Valbuena and, of course, Ballon d'Or bronze medalist Franck Ribéry to provide the attacking impetus from out wide. The quartet operate in a similar role to Nasri, while all four have enjoyed admirable seasons with their respective clubs.
Deschamps is expected to use a 4-3-3 for the competition, with Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi and Yohan Cabaye the three operating in midfield. Therefore, Grenier, Griezmann, Valbuena and Ribéry are expected to be battling to support Karim Benzema in attack, with the latter duo favourites to start. Nasri though, had he been called up, would likely have battled for a place in the first team with Valbuena.
Both players made the same number of league appearances (34) for their sides this term, though the latter's goal (3) and assist (6) return was worse than that of Nasri. Moreover, Valbuena's WhoScored league rating (7.04) is considerably lower than Nasri's (7.31), while the Manchester City ace has a much better pass success (91.5%) than his Marseille counterpart (84.8%), indicating his superior ability to retain possession and help the fluidity in attack. Following L'OM's poor season by their usual standards, and taking into account City's title win, some may have felt Nasri had leapfrogged Valbeuna in the pecking order.
Nevertheless, he still would have had competition for a starting spot from Grenier and Griezmann and it's likely that the former would pose a bigger threat than the latter. Griezmann's approach and style of play bears a resemblance to Ribéry, which means Nasri may have been in direct competition with Grenier for a place in the first team instead.
The Lyon midfielder, like Valbeuna, also scored fewer goals (4) and registered fewer assists (5) than Nasri this season, while his WhoScored rating (7.18) was lower than the City attacker. Having won just 3 international caps, Grenier's lack of international experience could also prove telling, with the same applying to Griezmann who has made just 1 appearance for the national team. In comparison, Nasri has 45 France caps to his name, not to mention his competition experience after turning out for Les Bleus at Euro 2012.
Regardless of his poor showing in France's 2-0 defeat to Ukraine in their first-leg play-off for the World Cup in November, the unpredictability of the midfielder would have been of assistance to Deschamps and his side. Nasri averaged the most key passes per game (2.7) of every French player in Europe's top 5 leagues this season. Gaining a WhoScored strength of 'key passes', his creativity would have aided the team, especially should a number of key performers struggle to forge goalscoring opportunities.
Having played more successful final third passes (730) than all of his fellow countrymen this term, Nasri's ability to pick out a teammate in the attacking third would have helped France. His goals and assists return suggests his penetrative threat would have given the team a better chance of landing an unlikely second World Cup in Brazil.
Nasri's displays for City this term warranted a place with France this summer. While he may not have been a guaranteed starter under Deschamps, the playmaker offers an inventive threat that would have bolstered France's attacking quality in the final third. Given his capability to play a defence splitting pass, and on the back of a successful season, the stats indicate Deschamps was wrong to overlook Nasri.
Do you think Didier Deschamps should have included Samir Nasri in his World Cup squad? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
