I'm not hungry now. I'm STARVING !!

Samir Nasri, touted to be the next Zinedine Zidane from the age of 17, has had a great end to the year 2010. Nasri believes that at a young age of 17, it’s difficult to keep performing consistently at the highest level and carry the high expectations on the young shoulders. Nasri says it drove him “mad” to be compared to Zidane at such an early age.

Playing in the World Cup is a dream for any player. For someone of Nasri’s abilities and skills, being omitted from the WC Squad would surely be a “slap on the face”. However, the World Cup shock spurred him on to do better, to train harder. And the result is evident this season.

He has taken his game to another level. He has not only been playing brilliant football, he’s regularly scoring goals as well.He scored an audacious individual goal in the Champions League against FC Porto which was nominated for the "FIFA Puskas Award-Goal of the year". He has scooped the PFA Player of the month for October, December and January. Arsène Wenger believes that Samir Nasri’s World Cup omission has shocked the French midfielder into the best form of his Arsenal career.
He has been in the form of his life, according to Fabregas. He has scored more goals than the combined tally of the last two years, has been integral in setting up many vital goals for the Gunners this season. Just like other players who have missed the world cup, Nasri definitely had the advantage of having fresher legs and minds. But it takes more than that to do what he has been doing this season. During the WC, Nasri took a lot of time to rest and self analyze. He asked himself if he was hungry and his mind answered, “I am not hungry now. I Am Starving.”

In December 2010, he was named the French Player of the Year for his performances during the calendar year. Not being picked in the WC Squad of 30 and being named the Best player in the country is quite a paradox. But one must compliment the way Nasri has bounced back from the niggling injuries in the last year. Being "The Next Zidane" is a far-off thing but it's worth appreciation that he has established himself a contender for the Player of the Season with his performances so far.

I'm not tired. I Feel ALIVE !

Winning the Bulgarian Footballer of the year for a record seven times seems a pretty great achievement. But this fades away in the light of the burden of performing for Manchester United who have paid £30.75 million for you. You are being nick-named “Berbaflop”. What do you do? You put your head down, put your hearts in and practise like hell. This is what Berbaflop had to do last summer. And now his nick-name has been tweaked. He’s now “Berbatop”. The hat-trick against Liverpool was the high-light of the season for him.

You have to give him credit for this amazing transformation. Some call him lazy with his movements, but this season he has shown his pace with the ball and also brilliant finishing. Responding for the team when they need you the most. He was compared to “Thierry Henry” by Arsene Wenger. This, even for the Man Utd fans is a compliment.

Let’s take a look at the statistics
Season 1: 14 goals in 43 games
Season 2: 12 goals in 43 games
Season 3: 20 goals in 28 games

The transformation is just not in the statistics. It is also in the belief. He was close to being offloaded with just two seasons with the club, but thanks to SAF and Berbatov’s hard-work, he s considered the spear-head of their attack now. With the departure of Tevez and CR7, adding to it the slump in the form of Rooney, someone had to rise. Berbatov has done just that. And he just attributes it to the hard work during the summer and the managers backing, of course.

Here is the routine he followed. He worked very hard on his fitness. He ran six miles every day during the off season. He watched one World Cup match, went for a run, then watched another and went for another run. He said “ I’ m Not Tired. I Feel Alive.”

Even in the on-going season he had a ten game drought. So for him the challenge would be to improve his consistency through out the season. SAF expects him to reach the 25 goals ,mark in the EPL. That will be no problem SAF.