The 3 Body Problem
Since the departure of undisputed club legend Valentin “Taty” Castellanos, the Cityzen’s #9 role has been a revolving door of possible replacements. New York City FC presently boasts 3 promising candidates in Jovan Mijatovic, Alonso Martinez, and Monsef Bakrar. Each of these players have been fighting for a chance to lead the front line, as if attempting to extract Excalibur from its stone. All three have strengths and weaknesses in their game, which makes picking a starter seem like a problem, but what might seem like a problem might actually be an opportunity.
The Sun
Monsef Bakrar, who was brought into the squad to solve the ‘striker problem’ late last year, struggled to do so at first. This was more due to the squad’s ongoing tactical struggles, and less because of anything the Algerian striker was or was not doing well. The Pigeons underwent a tactical and philosophical shift to start the 2024 season, going from a lethargic, possession oriented team to an energetic, counterpressing team. This shift complemented Monsef’s unique ability to press the ball high up the pitch. He currently leads the team in possessions won in the attacking third per90 (1.2), and he sits 2nd among NYCFC attackers having won 32.4% of his ground duels this season, at a team leading rate of 0.76 tackles per90 won in the attacking third specifically. His off the ball defensive efforts are in turn, supplemented by his positioning when in possession (he’s currently in the top 17% for total non-penalty xG, and the top 17% in non-penalty xG per96). Unfortunately, those moments have proven somewhat fruitless for the young Algerian, leading to 3 goals and 0 assists in 14 starts. As a result, New York’s goalscoring issues were still ever present – more than halfway through the new season.
The Planet
Two weeks before the season started, the Pigeons purchased young superstar Jovan Mijatovic from Red Star Belgrade for nearly $12 million dollars with the hopes of adding some depth to the striker pool. In his last 5 matches, he’s logged the most progressive passes of all three strikers’ last 5 matches (6 PrgP to Alonso’s 4 and Monsef’s 0). Meaning that he has the ability to receive the ball, turn, and play incisive passes to push the ball into the best attacking spaces. The team utilizes him as a high possessional pivot (Target striker) in a winger heavy system that seems to welcome a striker with that type of ‘gravitational pull’. Regrettably, he hasn't really demonstrated any particular goal dangerous traits yet, notching only 1 goal in his 14 appearances for the club. Those appearances however, only add up to about 581 minutes (just under 7 games worth of play time) which means he has more than enough time to eventually develop into a bigger threat in front of goal.
The Star
Alonso Martinez arrived from Belgian side Lommel SK in August of 2023. Originally profiled as a winger/wide midfielder, few expected him to step up the way he has (not me, I always knew) since scoring the goal that snatched a point away from Miami in a fairly even 1-1 away draw. Alonso is the 10th player in MLS history to have 10 goal involvements in his first 650 minutes of play, and currently sits in the top 5 for goals per90 among all MLS players – making it abundantly clear that the strongest qualities he offers is his clinicality and efficiency. His ability to simply convert chances into goals.
The ‘Celestial’ System
Typically, having three viable options at one position would prove to be a difficult situation for any manager to navigate, but in Nick Cushing’s case, I consider him blessed with abundance.
When Strajinha Tanasijevic was brought in, initial thoughts were that there might be a shift in the team's entire defensive shape, likely to some form of a 3 centerback system. Since then, Thiago Martins and Birk Risa have cemented themselves as a reliable central pairing of a back 4, with Tana now functioning as a depth piece in case of either injury or fatigue.
Instead of having one complete striker whose minutes would have to be budgeted wisely, and whose injury would deal heavy damage to the team’s ability to be goal dangerous, instead – Cushing has three separate options at striker. These options not only offer some depth, but also tactical flexibility depending on the game state.
When playing against a team that prefers to possess the ball and slow the game down, Monsef offers the ability to keep the press high, the speed of play high, and the passing lanes narrow.
When playing against a team that relies on committing their fullbacks forward, Jovan offers the passing range to allow Hannes and Santi (or any of the other 37 wingers) to attack the wide spaces they vacate.
When in need of goals – Alonso provides them.
On the list of responsibilities that a striker has, the number one priority should be scoring goals, anything else after that is just a bonus. By that logic, Alonso Martinez currently stands as the team’s best option to lead the front line. But that doesn’t eliminate the need for depth and competition.
When Taty transferred to Girona, he left some very large boots to fill. However, replacing him has not proven to be easy because he was such an anomaly. As a sporting director, how do you replace the golden boot winning, chance creating, press factory that Taty was? The answer sometimes is: you don’t. You bring in a slew of young, hungry players, which in turn creates a competitive environment – and hope that it breeds success. The bonus factor of this is depth. The hope that if one player is not enough, three players can fill the boots of one. It should be comforting for City fans to know that the Celestes have an attacking corps that not only thrives off of healthy competition, but that also has a “BREAK IN CASE OF EMERGENCY” option should any of them struggle to shoulder the weight of the demands that come along with being New York City FC’s #9.