Analysis: Akliouche and Balogun shine in AS Monaco’s win vs Brest

AS Monaco’s 2–0 triumph over Stade Brestois owed much to the standout displays of Maghnes Akliouche and Folarin Balogun, whose quality once again came to the fore. Their performances offer the perfect opportunity to explore how the dynamic duo ultimately made the difference on the night.

Akliouche’s wizardry

Full of invention and energy, Akliouche produced a tremendous body of work against the Pirates from his right-sided 10 slot, with his mazy dribbling, intelligent movement and imaginative distribution ensuring he stood out.

While he constantly threatened whenever the ball was at his feet, with his dribbling mastery, which includes a vast repertoire of skill moves, sweet changes of pace and direction and a tidy ability to spin away from pressure especially catching the eye, his movement was the outstanding aspect of his showing.

His astute movement, regular scanning and elite spatial awareness ensured he was perfectly positioned to cause problems. By occupying dangerous pockets between the lines and in the half-spaces, while also superbly timing his runs into depth, dropping deeper to create overloads and rotating with teammates, Akliouche was regularly on hand to inject life into Monaco’s attacking sequences.

Choosing when to check deep wisely, it was crucial how he often formed 4v3 or 3v2 overloads in midfield to help his team progress past Brest. Moreover, his sharp rotations with the central midfielders, mostly Lamine Camara, added an extra layer of menace and some vital variety to ensure Brest couldn’t settle into a pattern of how to stop him.

Another key to his success were his switches with wing-back Jordan Teze, as he frequently ventured wide while the Dutchman took his nominal inside station. This allowed Akliouche to use his wicked 1v1 dribbling in a less congested area of the pitch to wreak havoc and drive his team into the final third. Cutting infield with dynamism and opening up the field to hit incisive diagonal line-breaking passes and crosses seriously elevated his nuisance when operating on the flank.

Balogun brilliant

Balogun’s sensational purple patch for AS Monaco continued by bagging an excellent goal vs Brest, as he’s now scored six in his last matches, to highlight what a force to be reckoned with he is.

Having been nominated for the Ligue 1 Player of the Month award for February, the man who’s notably netted vs Paris Saint-Germain three times, including two in the Champions League, and once against RC Lens, was firing on all cylinders once more.

Scoring a brilliantly taken goal, where he reacted smartly to the loose ball before emphatically blasting home his finish into the top corner, this moment of magic was significant to give ASM the lead and swing momentum their way.

Proving his class when dropping between the lines to connect passages and when running in behind and into the box, his clever positioning was on full show throughout.

Also instrumental was how he served as an ideal focal point and target man when his team needed to go long, for his strength, reading of the ball’s flight and aerial prowess helped his team win valuable second balls in advanced zones. It was important how ASM would get numbers around him to increase their chance of making regains to attack again from high up too.

Defending from the front in typically energetic fashion, his pressing deserved credit as well, as he set the tone wonderfully for his colleagues to follow on an evening where he again led the line with aplomb and was an integral component towards Monaco’s latest triumph.

Manager Sébastien Pocognoli’s recent praise for the USMNT striker certainly rang true, as he’s been hugely impressed with his mentality and all-round improvements.

“He’s made a lot of progress psychologically. Balo is much more focused on reacting to a good or bad play. This means that when he’s playing well, he remains consistent, and even when he’s less involved or misses an opportunity, he manages to react positively. It’s a lot of psychological work, which doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s something he’s working on with Kevin (Mirallas). So on this point, Folarin has taken a step forward, and we know that for a striker, being able to handle such situations is crucial. Furthermore, there’s also been improvement on a technical and tactical level, which means he’s in a good phase of his career, and he needs to keep it up to remain consistent until the end of the season and finish strong. That’s what we want to see him achieve,” he explained.

Going from strength to strength of late, the form of both Balogun and Akliouche will carry on being pivotal towards Monaco maintaining their current hot streak and clinching a coveted European spot ahead of their two colossal upcoming clashes with Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille.