Despite the poor start for Juventus in Serie A and without Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, and Carlos Tevez, Juventus has a deep and talented squad. In fact, Juventus has more quality midfield and attacking options than starting spots.
Newcomers like Sami Khedira and Mario Lemina have given Juventus two strong defensive midfielder options in front of the defense, and Roberto Pereyra and Hernanes are vying for the playmaker role, even if coach Max Allegri has preferred to play Hernanes in more of a regista role.
In the attack, Juventus can start Álvaro Morata or Simone Zaza at center forward, or Allegri can start both players with Morata playing as the withdrawn or second striker. With Paulo Dybala also playing for Juve, there aren’t enough spots to start both Zaza and Morata. Dybala is too dynamic and talented to leave on the bench, so even with all of Zaza’s qualities as a center forward, Morata and Dybala are thus the best two forward options.
On paper and with Juan Cuadrado starting on the right wing in the attack, the best Juventus midfield would likely be Khedira, Paul Pogba, and Claudio Marchisio, and this even excludes both Hernanes and Pereyra.
The lineup dilemma for Juventus is one of Juventus being two players deep for every midfield starting spot, and this is a good problem to have for Allegri. Although Khedira is widely-considered the best defensive midfield option, it must be said that Lemina has looked much more athletic while still displaying great technical ability and distribution.
How controversial is it to argue that Lemina might be a better option for a Juventus squad that seeks to win Serie A again and go deep in the Champions League again? Will Khedira be wrong-footed and burned by the elite and speedy attackers?
More questions abound. Should Dybala’s starting spot be thrown on the sacrificial pyre to make room for a fourth midfielder like Pereyra or Hernanes (when Marchisio is back fit)?
Juventus really has the squad to use all of these players mentioned, plus who can forget about Stefano Sturaro, the Italian center midfielder that has proven to be a strong option and a big-game player as he proved last season in the Champions League?
Allegri will have to be careful to not just start the most famous of two options as the strong argument can be made that Lemina is more effective than Khedira and Pereyra is more effective than Hernanes.
Juventus has many starting options in the midfield and the attack, but perhaps the best options aren’t necessarily the most famous ones.
Is this Front Six the best option: Marchisio, Khedira, Pogba; Cuadrado, Morata, Dybala?
Or is it this one: Marchisio, Lemina, Pogba; Cuadrado, Morata, Pereyra?
Maybe it’s neither.
Juventus has started off badly in Serie A this season, but Juventus will soon be a different team with more continuity in the lineup. Form and injuries will affect the Juve lineup throughout the season, so some of the lesser lights may become first-choice options for Allegri.
Pirlo, Vidal, and Tevez are gone, but Juventus is still deep and formidable.
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.
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.
Mario Balotelli and M’Baye Niang impressed not only with their skill and athleticism but with the way that they shared the ball.
Mario Balotelli garnered most of the headlines for silencing his critics with his triumphant return to Serie A with AC Milan, but Balotelli has a history of delivering when the pressure goes up.
Most of the criticism of Balotelli’s personal life and so-called attitude problem is off base and blown out of proportion. While at Manchester City, Balotelli was even subjected to professionalism and maturity lectures and quotes in the press from Nigel De Jong who jumped kicked Xabi Alonso in the chest in the 2010 World Cup Final.
Mario Balotelli is a prodigy and his skill has been on display for around five years, but the teamwork and sharing of the ball between two technical masters and freaks of nature like Mario Balotelli and M’Baye Niang was something of a first in the world of soccer. It could be argued that never before have two strikers with the athleticism, size, and technical ability of Balotelli and Niang attacked an opponent together with a selfless sharing of the ball in a tandem of total destruction.
Milan’s other prodigy, Stephan El Shaarawy, should not be overlooked, as his skill and goal-scoring rate have been keeping Milan competitive, but seeing two soccer players with the physique, size, skill, and world-class athleticism of Balotelli and Niang attacking together must have made teams around Europe nervous.
Without exaggeration, what do you do when two players who have the total package of aggressive play, fantastic technical ability, and unmatchable athleticism attack you without one of the two players playing selfishly? There is nothing really the opposition can do. There are certainly teams with the ability to almost neutralize such players working together, and Niang and Balotelli will have off nights, but players with Balotelli and Niang’s physical gifts and speed, inside of tall and strong frames, is certainly something new in the world of soccer.
As Balotelli has been around for several years, there have been tall, athletic, and skilled players before, but if more players with all of these qualities become more widespread, many elite soccer players are going to find themselves struggling to keep up with players who inevitably will beat you due to one of many qualities.
For all of the talk of Balotelli’s so-called attitude problems and Niang’s youth, both players must have shocked many people by their willingness to play together while still shining as individuals. Balotelli and Niang found a way in their first game to not compete with each other, but rather to make each other better.
Any defenders or opposing players for that matter who face Balotelli and Niang will be in for a rough outing because, even if one or both of the players do not score or have something of an off game, the constant onslaught of speed, skill, adventurous play, and strength will be a total nightmare.
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Andrea Pirlo’s movement off the ball and constant movement all over the field seems to leave space for another midfielder who plays deep in the midfield, Paul Pogba, to have plenty of space to operate without getting in Pirlo’s way or hindering Pirlo’s play.
Therefore, less attention should be focused on what position Pogba is actually playing and more attention should be focused on the qualities that he brings to Juventus.
Italians have a variety of names for all of the positions in soccer, and in the midfield, mediano, mezz’ala, centrale, trequartista, and mezzapunta are some of the position names heard the most.
Paul Pogba is hard to characterize with the exception that he is not a trequartista or mezzapunta which are two names for the same advanced-playmaker role or the proverbial number 10 role. Andrea Pirlo, who now plays as a regista or a deep-lying playmaker who lines up at kick off directly in front of the defense, was originally used as a trequartista or mezzapunta until Milan moved him back to his now favorite regista role.
Pogba is some combination of a mediano, centrale, and (maybe down the road) a regista.
A mediano is a defensive midfielder who essentially plays as a midfield destroyer with the obvious caveat that anyone playing as a midfielder at the elite-level is expected to have advanced technical ability so as to not be a passing liability.
A centrale is a box-to-box midfielder along the lines of Arturo Vidal or Kevin-Prince Boateng, even though Boateng is often forced to play out of position as a pseudo-trequartista. In the past, players like Patrick Vieira and Michael Ballack were classic centrali (plural of centrale) and certainly someone like Ramires also would be classified as a centrale. Calling Paul Pogba a regista at this point is a stretch, but he has certainly shown the passing elegance and accuracy to play the sort of balls that a regista plays with ease.
Forcing Pogba into a box or trying to classify him as one of the three midfield positions mentioned above is not as important as the diverse arsenal of qualities that he brings to a midfield even as good as Juventus’.
Nobody really knows what midfield position Paul Pogba is actually playing for Juventus, and it does not matter because he is the total package and a complete player who provides everything one could ask for in a midfielder.
Pogba is a complete midfielder who provides so many different qualities that letting him play his game as opposed to forcing him into a set midfield role is probably the best policy, especially since Pirlo covers so much territory and knows exactly where to go on the field to compliment his teammates and orchestrate play.
Pogba is special because he provides goals, two-footed play, precision passing, strong and elegant tackling (both standing challenges and slide tackles), rock solid shielding of the ball, guile and trickery on the ball, and tireless running. Pogba scores volleys from distance with both feet. He plays soft chips that meet their target in stride. He plays one-to-two touch soccer, and he recovers the ball almost as soon as he or his teammates have lost possession. Pogba’s play is causing Antonio Conte to consider making more adjustments to his line-ups than Conte even had to consider in the past.
Pogba has created debate in soccer circles about what position he plays, how good he is, and which player he plays like. There have been numerous comparisons to Patrick Vieira due to obvious physical similarities and the fact that Pogba is a French midfielder, but Pogba appears to have a more refined technical skill-set than Vieira in addition to superior athleticism that most noticeably shows up in the form of agility and gait.
Pogba is around 6’4” as a 19 year old, so it is safe to assume that Pogba will just grow taller and stronger while maintaining his lean and muscular frame. By way of a comparison to basketball, there is no reason to assume that Pogba will lose some agility or athleticism as he grows taller because basketball players of a similar age and that level of athleticism do not lose their athleticism and agility when they grow a few inches taller.
For some coaches, fans, and players, versatility in a player is sometimes viewed as a negative attribute as some people believe versatility usually means that a player is merely good in a variety of categories and in a variety of positions as opposed to being great at a certain position or at a certain aspect of soccer.
Pogba appears to excel at almost all of the fundamentals that a player is measured by, and he plays like a midfielder that can be devastating in the defense and in the attack. With a player who provides so many qualities, a coach can, to some extent, free the player up to roam the field wherever he is needed providing defense when defense is needed and attacking ability when attacking is needed. Pogba already knows how to play effectively and where to go on the field, but playing alongside Pirlo with undoubtedly numerous French and non-French legends offering him advice can only make Pogba better.
Excluding the defenders, Juventus had been utilizing Andrea Pirlo as a regista directly in front of the defense with Claudio Marchisio and Arturo Vidal playing in front of Pirlo as something like centrali (box-to-box midfielders) or mezz’ali (outside midfielders who tuck in). With Juventus’ use of three defenders who are essentially center backs playing as right, center, and left defenders with two terzini fluidificanti or old school wingbacks playing in front of them essentially to the right and left of Marchisio and Vidal, Juventus has been playing something resembling a 3-5-2 formation.
This formation did not leave space for Paul Pogba in the starting line-up, but he has nevertheless been incorporated into the starting line-up or used as a substitute. With the rise of Paul Pogba characterized by a string of commanding performances and fabulous goals, Juventus has even more formation options than the club initially planned on using.
Now Juventus and Antonio Conte have the difficult job of deciding which regular starter or starters will be the odd men out in certain games. Perhaps the injury to Giorgio Chiellini and Kwadwo Asamoah’s participation in The African Cup of Nations increase the amount of formation options with Pogba, but Conte and Juventus still have the dilemma of deciding which of the following midfielders should start: Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Claudio Marchisio, Paul Pogba, and Sebastian Giovinco (who is both a trequartista and a second striker).
Paul Pogba’s quality and athleticism are forcing Juventus to rethink their formations, and Pogba is one of several prodigies who are popping up on the world football landscape along with M’Baye Niang and Stephen El Shaarawy, who are all playing in Serie A.
The ascension of Pogba is both a surprise and foreseeable occurrence, as France has consistently produced soccer superstars, and France has two new teenage prodigies in Paul Pogba and M’Baye Niang, who should both prove to make France a formidable opponent for many years.
With the advent of Mario Balotelli, Paul Pogba, and M’Baye Niang, European soccer is seeing athletic specimens and freaks of nature who move with dazzling grace and speed. They are too good, too strong, too fast, and too tall to leave single-marked, and they are going to be around for a long time.
