In the fourth minute of the first premier league game this season some good work by Clichy gave Nasri an easy opportunity, to open his premier league account. There was an expectation of a rout after the early goal, but West Brom dug in and the onslaught never came.

Nasri celebrates his first premier league goal

For a good review of the game visit aculturedleftfoot.com. There were the same old flaws some negatives but a lot positive to take away from the game.

The Good

Samir Nasri
The £12m signing started to repay his transfer fee very early on. The spectre of his first goal is over and done with, relieving the pressure to score very early on. Not only did he score but he had a man of the match performance. Much like Hleb he has the confidence and technique to demand and keep the ball in tight spaces, unlike Hleb he isn’t afraid to have a pop at goal. afterwards he said,

I could not dream of a better start, to score in my first game after four minutes. Now I will have to continue week in and week out, and hopefully I can keep playing like that, it will be brilliant.

There are concerns about his strength (although he seemed to be quite capable of holding off challenges), which the player himself has recognised and is addressing,

“I have a personal programme with the physio to get stronger, because everyone has told me English football is different, with more contact,”

Wenger was moved to compare Nasri to Pires, no pressure then.

Djourou
He is getting back to the old Djourou, the one we all thought would replace Senderos as the second choice CB. He made a mistake in playing a WBA striker onside, but had the presence of mind to make up for it, and clear the ball on the line.

His communication with Gallas needs more work, more on that later.

Denilson and Eboue
I’m not saying that either is the solution to our problems in the middle, but with performances like that it will be much easier for Cesc to get some rest instead of having to play. The are at least 8 teams which I would feel confident with them in the middle, that means at 16 games to possibly rest Cesc.

Between the two they had a 94% (129/137) pass completion rate, Eboue lost the ball twice during the game, compared to Theo 7 times.

The Bad

Theo Walcott
He had the worst performance of the team.

Theo obviously is still a work in progress, all I’m going to say is that he had a poor, poor, game. He is young and there is potential but I think he is being cut too much slack. There is no way we would accept that performance from anyone else on the team.

Strikers
Same old profligacy in front the goal, Ade still looks rusty and is yet to learn the offsides rule, Bendtner looked cumbersome, Van Persie still no right foot.

The offside trap
Just as Ade hasn’t learn the rules, our defender seem to depend on them too much. The needs to be better communication. If we want to play such a high line, then it has to be done right, no dallying about and play to the whistle don’t stop and look at the linesman.
Even if you think it’s offsides, what happens when the linesman doesn’t think so?

The Ugly

Gallas
Djourou clearly made a mistake in trying to play WBA offsides, but he made up for it. While Almunia was praising Djourou for his efforts, Gallas found it best to berate Djourou. That wasn’t the correct way to deal with Djourou, clearly Gallas leaves a lot to be desired as captain.

Booing
I know there is a lot of frustration with the way Ade handled himself, but to we think booing him will make thinks better? As much as his behaviour was disgraceful, booing is doubly so, especially when he is working his nuts off trying to win a game, how would it make you feel?

So while a good opening game there a still lots of issues to work out.