9 | Erling Haaland - 2022/23 Performances

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I’ll strap my tinhat on here but…

He shouldn’t be immune to criticism as stupid as that sounds with the number of goals he has, but other than his goal yesterday his hold up play and general involvement was crap, he also got dragged in to a stupid battle with a shit championship level defender that nearly got him sent off and played straight in to Everton’s hands, the ball was bouncing off him all game as it was against Brentford too.

I do understand his frustration at times but sometimes he needs to do more as well when it comes to bringing others in to play.
 
Gus Fring said:
I’ll strap my tinhat on here but…

He shouldn’t be immune to criticism as stupid as that sounds with the number of goals he has, but other than his goal yesterday his hold up play and general involvement was crap, he also got dragged in to a stupid battle with a shit championship level defender that nearly got him sent off and played straight in to Everton’s hands, the ball was bouncing off him all game as it was against Brentford too.

I do understand his frustration at times but sometimes he needs to do more as well when it comes to bringing others in to play.
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Still a bit raw in his overall play and it is affecting our build-up. Makes you wonder how good he'll be in 2/3 years time.
 
youngbob said:
Still a bit raw in his overall play and it is affecting our build-up. Makes you wonder how good he'll be in 2/3 years time.
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I suspect he's working very hard in training on these parts. This could be why the team hasn't changed the way it plays much to suit him.
 
chris85mcfc said:
Only City fans could possibly find drawbacks to signing an absolute goal machine

Fuck me, last season we complained we didn't have a goalscorer, and now we complain that we do

It's the rest of the team that need to sort their shit out, find him more often, and then defend relatively well

The guy is the quickest striker in the prem, runs in behind with ease, and will likely score every chance you make for him

Literally only we could moan that we were a better (or controlled) team without him
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Success is a team game. A record goal scorer and winning nothing is no use to anyone including the record goal scorer.

Its Peps job to sort it out.
 
BlueMedic said:
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.
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One thing those stats tell you especially with games played is that foden and alvarez should play more.

You would need to ask pep why he doesn't concern himself with the amount of contributions each player makes
 
hilts said:
Success is a team game. A record goal scorer and winning nothing is no use to anyone including the record goal scorer.

Its Peps job to sort it out.
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I agree, but that's something he will have to sort out, as he won't get any sympathy from many people if he's unable to make it work
 
chris85mcfc said:
I agree, but that's something he will have to sort out, as he won't get any sympathy from many people if he's unable to make it work
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We could really do with 2 attacking full backs that give us width but we don't have that.

I don't accept the resting and rotation policy we have. Kdb and Rodri seem to be played to death but younger players are regularly dropped. If we want to win the league or CL I think haaland foden alvarez Silva kdb rodri walker stones are the key. Who plays with them and what formation is the managers job. He isn't getting the best out of a really talented squad.

There is time to sort it though. But it's running out.
 
madloaf said:
Every time he gets on the shoulder of the last defender, points to where he wants it, and then we pass sideways or backwards it makes me die inside just a little.
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I preferred the few times Kev tried to give it to him and failed over the 100 times someone passed the ball back or sideways to a safe option.

I hate the overpossession of the ball. It used to mentally drain the opposition because we were constantly trying to create chances.

A lot of it now is simply possession for possession sake. The opposition isn't under any immense pressure. Frankly, they are waiting for a mistake to pounce. Because they are not under immense mental pressure of any kind.

We need more front line pressure on the ball. When up for it, that means Foden and Alvarez flanking Haaland.

Bernie/Gundo can play as one set of eight for each other and Kev/Grealish as the other set.

I like Maherz primarily as a sub when the other team is tired. Coz he doesn't have the natural intensity we need in our wing forwards. But he has the Skill
 
OB1 said:
The idea is that it will over the long run kill the opposition far more often than not...

Personally, I hate it when our opponents have the ball; so does Pep, which is one reason I like him.
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It's the mental fatigue of defending their goal for an onslaught that demoralizes opposition.

Non-threathening possession, might in fact do the opposite. The opposition can choose wto just sit back and wait for errors.

Their 2 lines of deep 5s can comfortably deal with any possession that doesn't threaten.
 
Gus Fring said:
I’ll strap my tinhat on here but…

He shouldn’t be immune to criticism as stupid as that sounds with the number of goals he has, but other than his goal yesterday his hold up play and general involvement was crap, he also got dragged in to a stupid battle with a shit championship level defender that nearly got him sent off and played straight in to Everton’s hands, the ball was bouncing off him all game as it was against Brentford too.

I do understand his frustration at times but sometimes he needs to do more as well when it comes to bringing others in to play.
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The fight against that dude made no sense to me. Dude was shit scared of Haaland and his stepping on Haaland was a genuine mistake.

Haaland can't give the impression that he can be got emotionally.

Yes, Everton might not be talented enough to fully take advantage of it, but other teams might.
 
Dax777 said:
It's the mental fatigue of defending their goal for an onslaught that demoralizes opposition.

Non-threathening possession, might in fact do the opposite. The opposition can choose wto just sit back and wait for errors.

Their 2 lines of deep 5s can comfortably deal with any possession that doesn't threaten.
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this is true. if they deny us possesion territory near or inside their box, infact that will galvanize them not demoralize them.
 
hilts said:
We could really do with 2 attacking full backs that give us width but we don't have that.

I don't accept the resting and rotation policy we have. Kdb and Rodri seem to be played to death but younger players are regularly dropped. If we want to win the league or CL I think haaland foden alvarez Silva kdb rodri walker stones are the key. Who plays with them and what formation is the managers job. He isn't getting the best out of a really talented squad.

There is time to sort it though. But it's running out.
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We do have attacking wing backs, we could potentially play Walker/Cancelo and Gomez against the lesser sides in the league

Gomez isn't a great option, but he will give us width and an overlap which at least gives the full back something to think about, and gives the likes of Grealish two options

I think the reason we don't rotate is that our game isn't particularly taxing. We have the ball for 70% of the game so physically and mentally it can't be too draining

That being said, we need Alvarez in the team for his pressing which should hopefully put a bit of panic into the opposition defence. I don't even think I'd be too worried with Mahrez and Grealish pressing me, Haaland a bit more so though haha!!
 
chris85mcfc said:
We do have attacking wing backs, we could potentially play Walker/Cancelo and Gomez against the lesser sides in the league

Gomez isn't a great option, but he will give us width and an overlap which at least gives the full back something to think about, and gives the likes of Grealish two options

I think the reason we don't rotate is that our game isn't particularly taxing. We have the ball for 70% of the game so physically and mentally it can't be too draining

That being said, we need Alvarez in the team for his pressing which should hopefully put a bit of panic into the opposition defence. I don't even think I'd be too worried with Mahrez and Grealish pressing me, Haaland a bit more so though haha!!
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We do rotate but not certain players. As for attacking fullbacks who naturally give width we don't really have any. We have too many technical players who like to come inside or/and like to play between the lines. We have great players but too many have similar strengths.
 
I’d like to see our play just speed up in general. One less pass or a quicker delivery and I think Erling scores even more
 
chris85mcfc said:
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!
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I'd say we are performing less well, rather than poorly, and not because of Haaland, but because we're in a transitional period as I said (and the fact its one of those odd seasons given the World Cup like you say, reminds me of the season Leicester won, or Liverpool).

We're adapting to a lot of change up top, with less pace and width and a more direct player in the number 9 position.

Haaland isn't being "blamed" as you seem to keep suggesting, but it isn't hard to see, or unreasonable to suggest, that there is more to come - it takes time to adapt, we often see it with players under Pep that it takes a season to settle, and I think it will be the same with regards to this current change in personnel.

We've seen it in 45 minutes against United how good it can be, but I don't think we'll see it too often this season. I hope and expect we will more consistently over the next couple of years.
 
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