Context
Four of the six players I look at in part two of this series are seriously linked with other clubs, one has already made a big move, and the other one… got sent off at the World Cup. Erm.
Anyhow, I take a look at how this one midfielder I really like changes direction quickly despite biomechanics that seemingly shouldn’t allow him to, before comparing three players who all strike the ball extremely cleanly, but in very different ways.
And if you haven’t already read part one, I’ve attached it to the bottom of this piece.
📚 Contents
🇧🇪 | Nathan Ngoy: CB | 23
🇲🇱 | Mamadou Sangaré: CM | 24
🇧🇦 | Kerim Alajbegović: LW | 18
🇨🇮 | Bazoumana Touré: LW | 20
🇫🇷 | Bradley Barcola: LW | 23
🇪🇸 | Carlos Espí: CF | 21
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Nathan Ngoy
When I was watching Belgium before the World Cup, Nathan Ngoy immediately caught my eye. So I watched some more of him.
I noticed he goes to ground a lot when tackling. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing in isolation, it can make things worse for the defender beside him, particularly when defending with a high line. If he goes to ground, he’ll take more time to recover, and his teammate beside him has to make up for that lost ground. For a lot of defenders, this comes from a lack of pace or mobility. I don’t quite think this is the case with Ngoy.
Ngoy’s top-end speed is pretty good, and he has good reach with either foot. The easier explanation is that he’s left to defend the flanks a fair bit, meaning he has to cover an extra bit of ground before he can even get into a position from which he can afford to try a standing tackle. The good thing here is that his lateral movement is pretty great, and his upper-body and arm strength when pulling or pushing is so good that he can effectively act as a stopper when defending as a fullback.
When he sets himself up well (i.e., gets a second to recover his bearings*), he’s also very agile and turns well around a fixed point. These are good things to have in his armoury, as I’d generally classify him as a front-footed defender. What I mean there is, even if he is overeager in a challenge, he has the resources to make up for his mistake.
*If you go at him before that second, I think you can feasibly catch him out flat[cross]-footed.
I like his approach towards blocks and interceptions. In duels, he’s comfortable whisking the ball away from his marker with either foot, which reduces his angle bias, and his acceleration → deceleration when intercepting the ball is smooth and sorta makes these actions retentive, as he’s in control of his motion throughout. Hence, he recovers from making challenges quickly and likes to look forward (progressively) for his next action. His clearances are also strong and assured, which will be helpful when defending deep.
He favours passing with his right, and I think his through balls are good. His aerial passes seem underhit, though, which may not scale well.
On the whole, I think he’s a really solid CB and, for the moment, would be a pretty great piece for a good UEL side. I can envision him becoming a valuable squad-piece for a top UCL team, especially given the added value of his ability to play at RB (to a high level).
Mamadou Sangaré
Mamadou Sangaré is a really good player who’d be a useful part of nearly every squad in the world.
While he doesn’t have the initial burst of power in his carries that Baleba does, for example, he works around it well. To begin with, his feet are so, so quick when he has the ball. This naturally indicates a high level of control, but if he does take a heavy touch, his long reach and good balance mean he’s able to get to the ball anyway before setting off again.
Furthermore, he shifts between acceleration → deceleration quite smoothly, making him hard to press simply because of the variety and unpredictability of his movements. This change of pace also means he can go from receive → progress very quickly.
He sometimes likes to roll the ball under his sole and carry it along with him, instead of prodding it forwards, which is a neat way of covering ground if you’re able to exert sufficient control over the ball (which he does).
He’s also developed a tendency to shift the ball quickly between the insides of his feet, making him difficult to read/dispossess. From there, he can shift it to either side really quickly, allowing him to go around his man. It’s quite smart considering he lacks the initial burst to get past his man otherwise, especially as his ability to do so in either direction makes it a tad more unpredictable.
While I generally like his security and intentions on the ball, Sangaré is heavily dependent on passing with his left foot. He does mitigate this with a general willingness (and almost fluidity?) to open his hips so that he can spray passes at odd angles, but still, it’s fairly easy to limit his options if you know he’s definitely going to pass with his left.
That said, he plays passes quickly and does well to cover space before and after doing so (should he give the ball away, he’s pretty quick to press his marker and try to force an error, so a lot of his dispossessions won’t be costly), so I suppose you could say he tries to beat that predictability by playing quicker than his marker expects. He also loves a bottom corner finish (again, with his left foot).
He’s pretty smart when it comes to defending, particularly when deciding whether to press man vs space. When defending space, his balance and reach again help him stretch to intercept, though he’s started to lunge into such tackles a little too frequently for my liking. Sure, he recovers well, but it generally just increases the burden on his teammates (by way of having to cover ground; it’s similar to what I wrote about Ngoy).
When he stays on his feet, he looks assured in duels and is generally good at holding his man off when pressed from behind. His aerial numbers are pretty good too.
As of now, I think he’d be a good starter for a UEL-level side, whilst being a valuable part of a decent UCL squad. I think he can go on to become a hugely valuable member of a squad that competes regularly for titles (as the 6 or 8), whilst putting in consistent performances on a regular basis. I'm a fan.
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Take care, and see you next week!
Here’s part one of “Scouting Digest":
And I also just scouted Carlos Baleba [again]. It’s my most in-depth article to date:
Bazoumana Toure looks a live wire, reckon those attributes could be really compelling as an impact sub in the latter parts of matches, either when you’re chasing a goal or looking to kill the game off.