9 | Erling Haaland - 2025/26

[Dialog]

Just as he’s clearly improved his heading and scoring with his head, he’ll also improve his positioning and movement for the near and far post. To claim his movement is always elite and always perfect is simply delusional.

That said, the trajectory is obvious. He’s already shown he can identify weaknesses in his game and fix them. If he’s worked on heading, there’s no doubt he’ll refine his positioning too—near post, far post, timing of those runs, all of it. That evolution will come. He is already a freak and will be more of a freak as he evolves. He will break records even faster because he will score at a more crazier rate than he is doing now, which is actually mental when thinking about that rate!

 

[Bluewonder]

Just as he’s clearly improved his heading and scoring with his head, he’ll also improve his positioning and movement for the near and far post. To claim his movement is always elite and always perfect is simply delusional.

That said, the trajectory is obvious. He’s already shown he can identify weaknesses in his game and fix them. If he’s worked on heading, there’s no doubt he’ll refine his positioning too—near post, far post, timing of those runs, all of it. That evolution will come. He is already a freak and will be more of a freak as he evolves. He will break records even faster because he will score at a more crazier rate than he is doing now, which is actually mental when thinking about that rate!

Haaland is never going to eschew the middle of the box for launching himself at the front post as it simply isn't a good place from which to score goals.

Him and City's backroom staff know far more than the people on here.

 

[Dialog]

Haaland is never going to eschew the middle of the box for launching himself at the front post as it simply isn't a good place from which to score goals.

Him and City's backroom staff know far more than the people on here.

True, they know better than the people on here. That’s exactly why they’re doing what they’re doing, and we’re here discussing it. I thought that much was obvious. What do people think forums are for? To analyse, discuss, applaud, criticise, debate, and give our views on things we may or may not have any direct business in commenting on.

All I’m saying is this: he already has crazy numbers, but they could be even crazier if he consistently exploited other areas of the box. If you can identify an advantage and exploit it, you benefit from it, you don’t ignore it. That’s the point.

 

[Bluewonder]

True, they know better than the people on here. That’s exactly why they’re doing what they’re doing, and we’re here discussing it. I thought that much was obvious. What do people think forums are for? To analyse, applaud, criticise, debate, and give our views on things we may or may not have any direct business in commenting on.

All I’m saying is this: he already has crazy numbers, but they could be even crazier if he consistently exploited other areas of the box. If you can identify an advantage and exploit it, you benefit from it, you don’t ignore it. That’s the point.

And I'm saying that his movement is absolutely optimal, hence his goalscoring record is by far the best of anyone this century.

Moving more does not equal moving better.

 

[TurboDuo]

I can't believe how unlucky he is sometimes

 

[denTTony]

Quiet game so far but so unlucky with that shot, Hopefully gets 150 in second half

 

[01cravend]

Was decent up until it came time to do his job and put ball in back of the net, everything easily blocked, like having Grealish up top...

 

[samuelyeboah]

I really want to have a conversation with him and have him explain to me how he expects a cross to get to him at the backpost when there's 4 defenders infront of him and he's not moving. Like explain the kinematics behind what kind of cross he expects any winger, let alone doku/savio/bobb/cherki to deliver that would magically bypass all of those in the middle and arrive precisely to his static frame for him to easily tap in. because otherwise i don't understand how he expects to score, and clearly i am the dumb one since he scores all the time (except the last 2 games)

 

[Bluesince1979]

He isn't slow in getting in position beyond being knackered. He's lightning fast at sniffing out opportunities.

He isn't slow in getting in position beyond being knackered. He's lightning fast at sniffing out opportunities.

Well?

 

[kanovic]

I really want to have a conversation with him and have him explain to me how he expect a cross to get to him at the backpost when there's 4 defenders infront of him and he's not moving. Like explain the kinematics behind what kind of cross he expects any winger, let alone doku/savio/bobb/cherki to deliver that would magically bypass all of those in the middle and arrive precisely to his static frame for him to easily tap in. because otherwise i don't understand how he expects to score, and clearly i am the dumb one since he scores all the time (except the last 2 games)

That is baffling me a lot about his game play.. mist strikers run near post to latch on the cross.. he goes to the back and waits till it passes everyone…

Another thing that bothers me about him is when he makes a run with the ball he is 100% shooting.. he puts his head down and you know what is going to happen.. it can be 4vs1 he is shooting.. sometimes he needs to lift that head up and see if there is a better option

 

[IrishBlueSince92]

He’s looked goosed the last couple of games

When’s Marmoush back?

 

[Lavinda Past]

Great striker, average footballer.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Looked far from "goosed", and that powerful run with ball was exactly what he should be doing more of.

 

[skillman]

Not clinical in recent weeks. And not offering enough elsewhere to make that worth it.

Luckily for him, he’ll never get dropped - rightly or wrongly - unless he’s injured.

 

[Bluesince1979]

It sounds crazy but hes not actually a very good footballer.
Hes freakish in scoring goals that nobody else could even imagine scoring let alone carry out. And he banks masses of credit.
But take his goals away and he contributes very little.
And hes on one of those runs at the mo.

Id NEVER drop him, because he eventually comes good again.

 

[Chak19]

Much better effort than against Sunderland, so unfortunate with that shot against the bar, he did have a few frustrating shots that got easily blocked, but today was mainly about Foden and Cherki not being able to play the final pass.

 

[bellsouth]

Would help if we passed or crossed occasionally to him - Grealish two nice crosses for assists today.
At this rate he might not even win the golden boot, that Brentford guy is hot on his heels

 

[TurboDuo]

Would help if we passed or crossed occasionally to him - Grealish two nice crosses for assists today.
At this rate he might not even win the golden boot, that Brentford guy is hot on his heels

That's what worries me too, even though he's 5 goals clear. This is already Haaland's third league game without a goal, and there's no end in sight to his poor form. Even against West Ham, his finishing boots weren't exactly on. And that Brazilian from Brentford is closing in. Out of 20 games this season, he hasn't scored in 8 of them.
Incidentally, the record for the most games scored in during a single season is held by Harry Kane from 2018, when he found the back of the net in 25 matches

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

I thought he played really well. Made lots of good runs. Unfortunately Foden and Cherki couldnt feed him. Almost scored a worldie. He was a solid 7/10 for me today.

 

[BlueMonkey79]

An absolute monster at goal scoring but a bang average footballer.

When you look at all the greats like Benzema, Kane, Ronaldo, Aguero even Rooney. They all could find the net, but brought so much more to the party than just goals.

No defender should win the ball off him when the ball is lumped or fired into him. But more often than not, he loses possesion.