Are City a better all round team without Haaland?

shemnel said:
think Haaland and City's performances against Villa and then Arsenal were quite interesting - Haaland looked way more integrated into the front 3 in those 2 games, as opposed to being the out and out target man. Could be a tactical shift in the way he is used? thought he was a threat and a bully at Arsenal, great game from him.
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First half,he was very isolated again last night and looked frustrated.

As soon as Pep switched to a more conventional and solid formation,he looked a part of the team as the the evidence of his goal and all round play proved.

There is no way on earth we are a worse team with him in it,but that is only as long as we use his strengths properly.
 
So far, measured both in terms of average performance and peak performance, last year’s team beats this one hands down.

Whether that’s down to playing a different system or the fact that key players in last year’s team are on the slide slightly we can’t be sure.

As always the definitive answer will come in May when we find out which trophies we do or don’t collect
 
Felt like Haaland was more involved than in previous big away games. He instigated a lot of that himself by just being a menace & trying to bully their defenders. Loved his finish too.
I struggle with Mahrez. He’s been with us 5 seasons & he rarely plays well away from home. There is a reason he’s not been picked for the big PL games away from home during his time with us. I much preferred it when Sterling or Jesus were picked in the wide areas. 85 starts in 175 PL games for someone that’s never injured tells a story.
 
Maine Rd said:
Felt like Haaland was more involved than in previous big away games. He instigated a lot of that himself by just being a menace & trying to bully their defenders. Loved his finish too.
I struggle with Mahrez. He’s been with us 5 seasons & he rarely plays well away from home. There is a reason he’s not been picked for the big PL games away from home during his time with us. I much preferred it when Sterling or Jesus were picked in the wide areas. 85 starts in 175 PL games for someone that’s never injured tells a story.
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That's a point, he's virtually never injured, would be interested to see just how many injuries he has had with us, might take a look
 
Brian's Kid said:
That's a point, he's virtually never injured, would be interested to see just how many injuries he has had with us, might take a look
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Well he’s made around 50 sub appearances so that would leave 40 games where he’s either not come off the bench or unavailable. I just don’t think he offers much away from home & there is a reason he isn’t picked in the big games (especially away, I know he played most games in CL away the season we got to the final but there were no crowds). He was great v spurs 2nd half in the league recently and a number of home games since World Cup but away I think he’s a weak link, just my opinion but the stats back it up. Much prefer Foden to be in the team
 
The ball from Bernie to Haaland is what we have all wanted to see. Let him run into space and cause havoc with the wingers coming in behind. You can sense the team is shifting. Love the bite we have now and can dish out abit of shit. Resilience is the word.
 
Axel Freed said:
So far, measured both in terms of average performance and peak performance, last year’s team beats this one hands down.

Whether that’s down to playing a different system or the fact that key players in last year’s team are on the slide slightly we can’t be sure.

As always the definitive answer will come in May when we find out which trophies we do or don’t collect
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There’s so many factors involved though it’s hard to make a true comparison between two seasons

We’ve barely been able to get a proper defence together all season

If you look after 23 games last season to this season right now, we’ve scored more this season at the same point, so in terms of attack, we haven’t dropped off at all, we’ve improved in that respect.

So I think the obvious problem is we are letting more goals in than last season and committing stupid errors at the back, like passing the ball straight to the opposition to score goals recently which has cost us points. And I think that comes from a lack of confidence at the back because we’re chopping and changing, playing midfielders as inverted full backs etc. I don’t think this has much to do with Haaland in the side or not. I just don’t think we’ve recruited well enough at the back and had bad luck with injuries too.

We just need to sort out that side of the game because the attacking ability is still there and statistically We are scoring more goals than last year.
 
I think we were a better team at last two campaigns.
With Haaland we are more predictable but we also lose less chances with him.
 
Manncity said:
We have to use Haaland’s strengths, we need to stretch teams by getting the ball forward quicker. Balls into channels quicker and turning the opposition. Second half against Arsenal we created a lot more space, to get in behind.
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To be fair though, that space only appeared because Arsenal stood up, looked us in the eye & tried to duke it out with us.

More often than not, we come up against a fortress wall built around the 18 yard box... \0/
 
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Haaland is a conundrum & the longer I've watched him, the clearer what's needed has become.

Haaland has definitely upped his movement around the pitch. In recent weeks he's been pressing more from the front & dropping deeper adding an extra body in midfield.

Teams have already worked out if they crowd the midfield & pack the defence, there's no space for us to find Haaland, hence the long hopeful balls which teams are snuffing out.

However, against Villa & Arsenal I noticed Haaland came wide right a few times, & twice it's led to goals & an assist for Erling.

Haaland moving right dragged Villa & Arsenal's CB's out of position. Whilst the defenders were tracking Haaland, it created space for the likes of Jack, Kevin & Ilkay to move into, hence in those moments we resembled the City of old.

This is the way forward imo. If Haaland uses Kane as a blueprint & becomes more mobile & effervescent in his play, we can return to being Pep's Manchester City, with the added danger of Haaland.

The only downside? Erling won't score as many, but that slack will be picked up by others as the last two games have shown, plus it makes City as a team a shit load more dangerous & unpredictable.

In the 1.5 games, Erling's assisted an assist, got an assist & scored. It's not unrealistic to expect he could have scored two either. I'd prefer those numbers rather than he scored 4 goals from 12 touches & we had a draw or a loss in there.

For the first time this season, I can actually see a way for us to integrate Haaland without losing the essence of what Pep's Manchester City are. The next few weeks promise to be very interesting.
 
Nope. I think its just that the goals have dried up around him. Except De Bruyne we don't have a consistent goal scorer tbh. Gundog does a good job from his position but the others arn't as effective in terms of numbers as they should be.
 
Here’s my quick view on it

We’re different and that’s that I wouldn’t say we are better or worse.

Thierry Henry said it best when he talked about sometimes in the big games he has to adapt to maximise those around him, he knows KDB can drop it to him from anywhere but players like Gundo & Silva prefer one twos and more intricate stuff which is why personally in big games this season things aren’t seeming to click when a better quality of player sticks on Kev.

He’ll get there he’s 22 and he’s scored 26 already in his debut premiership season when 20 would have been a good return in my opinion.

All this bollocks is just driven by the media looking for more arrows to shoot at us.

CTID
 
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