02-01-2016, 09:35 AM
(01-31-2016, 05:27 PM)Ace Wrote: Sorry Jay, that wasn't completely my point..
Statistically speaking, ELS spent around 20 months out of those 37 either injured or we were on summer break.
in his breakthrough season(2012-2013), he scored 15 goals in the first half.. then came Balotelli and we all know what happened then.(its a whole different discussion if he's low on confidence or if it's Balotelli's effect)
come 2013/2014, albeit he started slowly but he was regaining his form only to get injured. that season he made 6 appearances.
next season he made only 19 appearances also affected by injuries. made a comeback towards the end of the season to give a huge boost to our attack and scored a brace against Torino.
come this season, we decide he's surplus to requirements only to go looking for a modern day winger next transfer window which we still don't posses nor did we even try to buy.
Not to mention that in those 3 seasons, he trained under 3 different coaches, in 3 different systems and 3 different roles. it was a struggle to our most talented players.
Now we go into direct comparison when both players played in the same position (Supporting Striker, also Niang's main role this season).
ELS in the same period of time has had 3.5 times more goals than Niang, and he had Pazzini as the main striker, not Bacca.
as for their playing styles, ELS is faster, better ball control, better passer(not the best nonetheless), presses higher up the pitch and also tracks back to defend(arguably he saved many certain goals).
Niang on the other hand can't control a simple pass given to him, he's clumsy, and it almost always looks surprised that he received a pass.
Niang is also considered one of our faster players, yet I haven't seen him once utilize that speed to sprint past defenders.
While no, none of them might be the solution.. ELS is the better option to have playing on the wing, or better yet, to partner Bacca upfront.
No doubt he was injured and I think he has a naturally better touch and technique overall than Niang.He got worse after those two big injuries.Its his mental issues that are the problem , he started well at Roma just like Monaco.But one bump in the road and he goes into months of poor play.Niang had a broken foot and was out for 3/4 months came back just like he was before , his 6 goals 4 assists in his 14 games this season are good.Those are happening now , I had hoped SES would be our star , but he wasnt .His return when not injured was piss poor.I truely believe in the long run we're better off with Niang.