After stuttering through the Coppa Italia against Crotone and thumping Sampdoria in Serie A, back-to-back goalscorer M’Baye Niang is the talk of the town among AC Milan supporters.
When looking at Luiz Adriano last time around, one main point we drew upon was that AC Milan lacked that attacker who could provide goals with a bit of flair and pace to boot. Carlos Bacca wasn’t the answer and the case was put forward for the currently injured Mario Balotelli.
Along came a 20-year-old attacker, the relatively quiet face from the Juventus game, to silence any doubters. Sinisa Mihajlovic has his star and his name is M’Baye Niang.
Everything appeared to click almost instantly for the Frenchman, virtually forgetting all that had occurred during the previous round of matches. 4-3-3 was the style of choice from Mihajlovic, but the service to Bacca was poor, hence his zero shots on goal and the rather solitary figure he posed during the clash with the Bianconeri.
Mihajlovic made the change he had to in order to help out his top scorer and gave him a partner – Niang.
It proved the telling point of the game with Sampdoria, allowing Niang to run off the shoulder of his Colombian strike partner and a brace was the icing on the cake in a wonder performance by the Rossoneri.
Pushing Alessio Cerci further back on the field to a wing based role paid dividends, allowing the goalless Italian to turn his attention to assists. Some truly wonderful crosses were the reward for the switched role and a definite improvement on his past matches.
Giacomo Bonaventura, who had featured as both an attacking midfielder and Patrick Vieira type box-to-box player, was given his role on the wing again where he is allowed to cut inside when needed. He did just that for the opening goal, ghosting in at the far post to hand Milan the lead. Assister? Niang.
The 20-year-old did what Milanisti would have been begging for, drill a cross. It seems such a simplistic point, but prior deliveries in many of their fixtures have been floated balls, with only Adriano able to capitalise on them due to his heading ability.
Cerci’s powerful crosses coupled with Niang’s low driven balls, something Juraj Kucka has also taken into his stride, have caused havoc in the opponents box and goals have been the reward.
It wasn’t just the assists Niang was the ringleader of, netting a brace in the process. Having missed doubling Milan’s lead just a minute later with a shot across his body, he got the goal his showing deserved from the penalty spot.
Don’t fret, however, penalties aren’t the only thing Niang can do when preparing to score and he nearly showcased his flair when an audacious back-heel flicked effort was saved.
He kept on fighting for that second goal and it came following a mistake in the Blucerchiati defence. The Frenchman took the ball and got it under his control before slotting home with ease.
He spoke after the game, joyous of his prior accomplishment and had every right to be that way. Two assists and a goal epitomised the striker’s game and gave glimpses of what to expect from him in the future.
“I am very happy, as I have been waiting for this sort of night to occur,” he told Mediaset Premium.
“All the hard work has paid off,” he added.
“I like to play as a centre-forward because I can hold up the ball well in front of goal. If needed on the wings, I’ll play there as well.
Mihajlovic has a gem and, if used correctly as Saturday proved, he could be the answer to not only Bacca’s needs but also Milan as a whole.
Winger or striker, Niang will answer the call and already looks more useful than Adriano. If the Rossoneri perform as they did on the weekend consistently, a return to Europe is not off the cards at all.
