9 | Erling Haaland - 2022/23 Performances

[Deleted member 77198]

Some of his dropping-deep-to-receive-the-ball-and-lay-it-off play was very poor today.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

His goals and passion are amazing.

But think you'd be hard pressed to claim we've been a better team since he's joined. Feels like we are still in a bit of a transition period when it comes to style of play and how to best function with him up top.

This. Nothing wrong with Haaland himself as such, cos he’s a goal machine, but his inclusion is unquestionably to the detriment of the ‘system’ we had in place before. Clearly work needs to be done in terms of finding a better balance, and I would argue that one sure fire way of NOT doing that is to provide him with a support cast that is as bereft of pace and energy as our midfield was today…..especially the wide combo of Mahrez and Grealish, the latter of whom’s inclusion at the expense of Phil Foden, utterly fries my brain.

 

[chris85mcfc]

Can someone please explain to me how Haaland is detrimental to the team?

We still keep the ball for 70% of the game, and limit teams to very little opportunities on our goal

We have lost some control to our game, but personally I think that's due to Kev, Gundo and Bernardo not having particularly great seasons thus far

Instead of having 5 players who all inter-changed, we now have 4 plus Haaland

I'm sorry, but if we are coming to the conclusion that Haaland is the problem, then perhaps we are in a worse position that I originally thought

Bring back Sterling and Jesus

 

[Shaffer92]

This. Nothing wrong with Haaland himself as such, cos he’s a goal machine, but his inclusion is unquestionably to the detriment of the ‘system’ we had in place before. Clearly work needs to be done in terms of finding a better balance, and I would argue that one sure fire way of NOT doing that is to provide him with a support cast that is as bereft of pace and energy as our midfield was today…..especially the wide combo of Mahrez and Grealish, the latter of whom’s inclusion at the expense of Phil Foden, utterly fries my brain.

Pep played Haaland and Alvarez vs an albeit poor Nottingham Forest team and it worked really well. I can't recall him ever going with that formation again after that for some reason. I think we need someone like Alvarez who can drop a bit deeper and help link up play and also work hard defensively as Jesus did for us.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

The only “issue” for me is the lack of pressing. I don’t think it would be as much of an issue with Foden and Alvarez alongside him but Grealish and Mahrez exacerbate the problem. Other than that I don’t see how anyone could question Haaland given his goal record.

 

[BlueMedic]

Can someone please explain to me how Haaland is detrimental to the team?

We still keep the ball for 70% of the game, and limit teams to very little opportunities on our goal

We have lost some control to our game, but personally I think that's due to Kev, Gundo and Bernardo not having particularly great seasons thus far

Instead of having 5 players who all inter-changed, we now have 4 plus Haaland

I'm sorry, but if we are coming to the conclusion that Haaland is the problem, then perhaps we are in a worse position that I originally thought

Bring back Sterling and Jesus

Last season goals vs (this half seasons goals):

KDB 15 -> (3)
Sterling 13 -> (Grealish 1)
Mahrez 11 -> (1)
Foden 9 -> (7)
Gundogan 8 -> (2)
Jesus 8 -> (Alvarez 3)
Silva 8 -> (3)
Rodri 7 -> (1)


I don't think I've seen a single post complaining about Haaland or suggesting he's a problem, his job is to score goals, and he's doing that to an extent simply never seen before in the PL, its remarkable and no one would deny that.
However if you look at how everyone else is doing in that aspect, only Foden is on schedule to improve on last season. We've become quite reliant on Haaland scoring multiple goals per game to get us 3 points.

If you think this is as good as we can do as a team with Haaland in it then I think you're being very pessimistic - I'd suggest we should be able to do better, and that starts with more contribution from our other attackers, which I expect will take time to develop those partnerships and movements.

 

[chris85mcfc]

Last season goals vs (this half seasons goals):

KDB 15 -> (3)
Sterling 13 -> (Grealish 1)
Mahrez 11 -> (1)
Foden 9 -> (7)
Gundogan 8 -> (2)
Jesus 8 -> (Alvarez 3)
Silva 8 -> (3)
Rodri 7 -> (1)


I don't think I've seen a single post complaining about Haaland or suggesting he's a problem, his job is to score goals, and he's doing that to an extent simply never seen before in the PL, its remarkable and no one would deny that.
However if you look at how everyone else is doing in that aspect, only Foden is on schedule to improve on last season. We've become quite reliant on Haaland scoring multiple goals per game to get us 3 points.

If you think this is as good as we can do as a team with Haaland in it then I think you're being very pessimistic - I'd suggest we should be able to do better, and that starts with more contribution from our other attackers, which I expect will take time to develop those partnerships and movements.

OK, so we are now saying that the other players are performing poorly because of Haaland?

There's also been a lot of rotation in the team so far because of the World Cup, which is possibly a reason for those players struggling to get going.

Despite that stats above, we spent most of last season complaining that we didn't have a striker, so to now use that as the reason for us not performing is a bit odd if you ask me. Especially when that striker has broken pretty much every goal scoring record ever made by a PL player!

 

[skillman]

He’s obviously told to stay up front and wait for a chance. It’s worked 26 times so far this season and will work fuck knows how many more times before the end of the season too.

It is a bit frustrating, though, when he’s basically stood there doing nothing until we decide to bring him into the game when he’s the type of player who can fashion something out of nothing. Big game player and scorer of important goals but we hardly fed him today. A bit strange.

 

[AlfieBorden]

You need natural width, pace and energy either side of him, plus more direct football to properly utilise him. Alvarez is more of a ‘City’ player.

 

[Paul1970]

Can someone please explain to me how Haaland is detrimental to the team?

We still keep the ball for 70% of the game, and limit teams to very little opportunities on our goal

We have lost some control to our game, but personally I think that's due to Kev, Gundo and Bernardo not having particularly great seasons thus far

Instead of having 5 players who all inter-changed, we now have 4 plus Haaland

I'm sorry, but if we are coming to the conclusion that Haaland is the problem, then perhaps we are in a worse position that I originally thought

Bring back Sterling and Jesus

Haaland has scored 21 league goals so if that’s a problem then we all might aswell pack in . The problem we have is that we are not quick enough changing defence ti attack especially with grealish abd Mahrez almost at walking pace . If we had two rapid wingers feeding haaland we would be a different animal to play against because all teans have to do is stay in the gane and wait for the chance which will come and get the goal .