Europe

M’Baye Niang Time For Milan

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M'Baye Niang. (Photo: Reuters)
M’Baye Niang. (Photo: Reuters)

 

With Mario Balotelli suspended for the next three Serie A matches, the time has come to start the 18-year-old 6’4″ French striker, M’Baye Niang, and let him blossom into an elite striker.

Despite being a teenager and even without Balotelli’s suspension, Niang’s special gifts and abilities needed to be unleashed on Milan’s opposition on a more consistent basis sooner. A striker with Niang’s speed, agility, 1v1 abilities, shooting ability, and combination play isn’t something that Massimiliano Allegri can ignore.

Milan need Niang to disrupt defenses with his movement off the ball and his skill on it — all of which constantly threaten the goal. Niang is a great finisher with both feet, even though he received some criticism for having a shot hit off the post against Barcelona in the Champions League last season.

Without Kaká and Riccardo Montolivo, or Stephan El Shaarawy for that matter, a player with Niang’s workrate and effectiveness at putting himself in scoring-positions can help to compensate for a current midfield lacking in creativity, but Niang’s own qualities warrant a starting spot, even with a full squad.

The logical thing for Milan to do would be to start Robinho with Niang in order to facilitate combination play in the attack and to use Robinho as the player to drop back to collect the ball from the likes of Nigel De Jong, Sulley Muntari, Antonio Nocerino, and Andrea Poli who are all playing slightly deeper in the midfield.

For AC Milan’s purposes, even without the current injuries, a striker of M’Baye Niang’s physique, athleticism, aggressive and creative playing style, and world-class technical ability is simply too talented to leave watching the games from the bench.

Of all of the players in world football, finding one who is a faster and smoother mover than Niang who also has trickery and striker instincts that are off the charts is close to an impossible task.

Niang isn’t a raw striker who needs to refine his technical ability, but rather he is one of the best young talents in world football. What Niang needs is playing time: playing time to get into a rhythm and start scoring goals. Any striker who can smoothly execute textbook elásticos and pull them off effortlessly is truly a special striker indeed.

Whatever excuse that Massimiliano Allegri has for not making Niang a core element of his Milan squad in no way justifies the exclusion of a player who wrecks so much havoc in the attack and who draws so many defenders toward him.

None of Milan’s injuries rationalize the decision to not start M’Baye Niang every game they can because his abilities already demand it, and he needs the experience to continue to grow and improve as a striker.

Soon, M’Baye Niang will be one of the elite strikers in the world, and any club would be hard-pressed to find a striker with his combination of elite technical ability and creativity combined with incredibly smooth and superior athleticism inside such a tall and agile frame.

 

Neymar Has Adapted to European Football

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Neymar. (Photo: Vanderlei Almeida/AFP)
Neymar. (Photo: Vanderlei Almeida/AFP)

 

It only took a few games for Neymar to fully adapt to European football and playing with Barcelona.

The Neymar critics have been circling around like vultures for the last few years with the bizarre logic that the best Brazilian player of his generation would somehow not be able to cut it in Europe, despite an abundance of video evidence showcasing incredible ball control, creativity, and athleticism on the club and international level.

Even after Neymar and Brazil humiliated and dominated Spain in the 2013 Confederations Cup Final with skill, athleticism, physicality, and psychological warfare, the Neymar critics still doubted whether Neymar would be able to mesh with Lionel Messi and fit in with Barcelona’s style of play.

The uniqueness of Barcelona’s style of play is somewhat of a historical fallacy because one-to-two touch soccer based on a passing and moving without the ball has been the recognized gold standard of world football since Pelé and before.

Even people who hate soccer and know nothing about it know that Brazil is the best soccer nation in the world, and most of the best soccer players come from Brazil. Even Americans who hate soccer associate soccer excellence with Brazil.

Therefore, it’s a mystery why so many people in the United Kingdom and in Europe insisted on perpetuating the ludicrous opinion that Neymar would struggle to adapt to La Liga, Barcelona, and Champions League football.

Over the last few years, Neymar’s body has filled out and matured quite a bit, even if he still has a thin physique as his natural body type, and it is surprising that more of Neymar’s detractors didn’t notice that Neymar was becoming more muscular and taller.

From the very first game of this summer’s Confederations Cup, Neymar announced to the world with his electrifying goals, assists, and overall play that critics would be eating their words.

The final nail in the critics’ coffin was the ruthless left-footed half-volleyed goal that Neymar scored near post by crushing a shot off the bounce straight at Iker Casillas’ face, even though Casillas, arguably the best goalkeeper in the world along with Gigi Buffon, had the near post covered.

The cold-blooded nature of that goal and the ability and confidence it took to pound it straight at Casillas’ head in the Confederations Cup Final should have silenced the critics once and for all because once he repeatedly scored and excelled against the best national teams and embarrassed Spain on international television, what more did Neymar need to do to prove that he was ready for European football?

As Barcelona’s season began, the critics were still out in full force saying that it would take Neymar a while to adapt to Spanish and European football until Neymar scored the game-winning header off a Daniel Alves cross to beat Atlético Madrid in the first leg of the Supercopa de España.

Not only did Neymar score, but by scoring a contested header with his head, Neymar showcased his complete skill-set to doubters who viewed him as a soft player who wouldn’t put himself in harm’s way.

Neymar knows how to compete in a physical sport while still avoiding injuries and protecting himself from reckless and dirty players.

In Neymar’s most recent game, which was against Sevilla, Neymar outplayed Messi, and Neymar showed that not only adapting to Spanish football but thriving was mere child’s play for a player of his abilities.

The Brazilian sensation’s real battle will be to win enough trophies and individual awards by continuing to balance individual brilliance while still being a player who plays for the team and makes his teammates better.

More so that Cristiano Ronaldo and maybe Messi, Neymar is likely a player who is better-equipped to make his teammates better while still distinguishing himself as the best player on the field.

Neymar wants the crown and the glory, but he will likely achieve both by not competing against his peers but by competing with his own standards and doing what is needed to win games.

Cristiano Ronaldo definitely views Messi as a competitor just as he viewed Kaká as a competitor, but like Tiger Woods, Neymar seems to only be competing with himself.

Contesting the fact that Messi is the world’s best footballer is considered blasphemy, but the 21-yeard-old Brazilian master looks to be a more complete player, who unlike Messi, uses both feet interchangeably and who is a more gifted passer with a bigger arsenal of individual skills to score and best opponents.

The problem for Neymar will be winning the Ballon d’Or four times with players like Mario Balotelli, Paul Pogba, Arturo Vidal, and many others around.

If the Brazilian maintains his relaxed personality and his big-game mentality, then focusing on success with Brazil and Barcelona will also bring the individual awards.

 

The Balotelli and Niang Striker Duo

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M'Baye Niang (left) and Mario Balotelli (right). (Photo: Icon Sport)
M’Baye Niang (left) and Mario Balotelli (right). (Photo: Icon Sport)

 

Stephan El Shaarawy is an exciting and gifted second striker, but Mario Balotelli and M’Baye Niang starting together as first strikers could be a lethal strike force for Milan this season.

The trident of Balotelli, Niang, and El Shaarawy works, and Massimiliano Allegri and Milan would be wise to start the trident, unless the tactics against a particular opponent call for choosing either Niang or El Shaarawy to partner with Balotelli up top.

While Balotelli and Niang are excellent dead ball specialists and passers who willingly combine with their teammates, El Shaarawy brings more of a second striker style of play than either Niang or Balotelli who bring an even more advanced element of speed combined with 1v1 abilities, which are off the charts.

If Allegri starts El Shaarawy, Balotelli, and Niang as a trident, Milan’s attack will look like a line of three forwards each inhabiting a certain wide or central area of the field, but really the players will be constantly moving and changing positions with each other to such an extent that their positions on paper won’t matter.

There’s no guarantee that Milan will start this trident up top as Allegri will have to decide which players he wants to start in the midfield. At midfield, Milan has players like Kevin-Prince Boateng, Riccardo Montolivo, Sulley Muntari, Antonio Nocerino, Nigel De Jong, Andrea Poli, and Robinho, who is a winger or second striker, and Allegri will have to find the best combination of these players and others.

Regardless of who starts in midfield and with or without El Shaarawy starting every game, Milan should place a premium on starting both Balotelli and Niang at striker because their combination of world-class speed and dazzling skill is simply too much of a weapon to not take advantage of.

Barcelona has Messi and Neymar in the attack, but Milan has two first strikers in Niang and Balotelli who work together to relentlessly attack the goal with their combination of skill, speed, and size, which is different to the Neymar and Messi combination.

While Niang and Balotelli are unique in their combination of skill, speed, size, and athleticism, there is room for El Shaarawy in the line-up, and Milan should take advantage of these three forwards in order to bring an onslaught of attackers every game.

No team in the world has two strikers with the skill and athleticism of Niang and Balotelli, and Milan needs to start these two strikers together and figure out what other four players are needed to field a balanced and effective midfield and attack.

For all of Balotelli’s individual skill and ability to execute difficult tricks and passes, Niang almost appears to possess better 1v1 dribbling abilities than Balotelli, and Niang just might be faster than Balotelli. This isn’t to say that Niang is better than Balotelli, but his speed and dribbling just might be better.

It’s rare to see soccer players who have the physique, athleticism, skill, and competitive mentality of Niang and Balotelli, but two strikers with these gifts and qualities on the same team is something that no other club or national team can match.

Rather than selecting Balotelli or Niang, Milan should start both strikers to terrorize defenses and dictate the tempo of the game, as it’s doubtful that any defense can truly contain players with Balotelli’s and Niang’s physical gifts and technical skills, especially when they are unleashed on opponents at the same time.