9 | Erling Haaland - 2023/24

[Didsbury Dave]

Pep said it was a twisted ankle. Usually a week or so I think.

 

[Silva&Silva]

I get the fact that Messi won the WC but it still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Probably because Benzema won it the year previous for a lot less than. I'm not usually one to care about individual awards but this one has gotten under my skin.

 

[vmsuhail]

He is being played too much. Perhaps it's better to give him rest for the next two games and the international break, then return for the 3 important games against Liverpool, Leipzig and Tottenham.

 

[Bazzmand Show]

I get the fact that Messi won the WC but it still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Probably because Benzema won it the year previous for a lot less than. I'm not usually one to care about individual awards but this one has gotten under my skin.

I agree, I just think it's an absolute joke to not get that award after a season like that.

 

[meeesh]

He is being played too much. Perhaps it's better to give him rest for the next two games and the international break, then return for the 3 important games against Liverpool, Leipzig and Tottenham.

Leipzig won't be too important really

 

[Gabriel]

Couple of chances in recent weeks where he has been through but has taken a touch when normally he would have struck first time. He doesn’t always strike the ball that cleanly, but the fact that he strikes before the keeper is set often gives him the advantage.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

I agree, I just think it's an absolute joke to not get that award after a season like that.

Oh but you have to understand that Messi's been deprived of the award for years! It was high time he got it.

Nothing demonstrates better the falsity of this award than the fact that it has been awarded for the winning of a trophy — something which by definition is won by a team in a team game, incidentally — in a competition that took place over a a period of weeks, rather than the overall performances of a player over this or that year.
When Messi was in his stellar years, there was no-one else like him on the planet. He was quite rightly awarded the Ballon d'Or in those years, and actually in most of the years that Ronaldo won it, I personally would have awarded it to Messi even then as the superior footballer (although Ronaldo's a superb athlete, and he can play football pretty bloody well too, or could). Everybody who knows anything about football knows that. But those stellar years are long past.

A poor decision. But then when you look at FIFA's ridiculous plans for future World Cups, in which the main aim seems to be to make the money-spinning trough (and possible kickbacks from organising countries) ever larger, and to hell with the health of players who are increasingly treated like pack horses by these UEFA/FIFA competitions, then there is nothing to be expected.
I follow my club, but the international game and its attendant awards increasingly leaves me utterly indifferent.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Couple of chances in recent weeks where he has been through but has taken a touch when normally he would have struck first time. He doesn’t always strike the ball that cleanly, but the fact that he strikes before the keeper is set often gives him the advantage.

This. This is what I've been noticing. He's been doing it in quite a few matches. Last season he wasn't thinking twice. He didn't need a touch to set himself up. He sniffed half a chance, he'd shoot — goal!
He did it yesterday in the first half. Was put through into the box, was at least a half-chance, the ball was not perfectly in front of him, but it was in front of him, and he had time to whack it. Instead, he took another touch, and messed it up.
It's weird, and I don't know what the explanation is.

 

[blueparrot]

This. This is what I've been noticing. He's been doing it in quite a few matches. Last season he wasn't thinking twice. He didn't need a touch to set himself up. He sniffed half a chance, he'd shoot — goal!
He did it yesterday in the first half. Was put through into the box, was at least a half-chance, the ball was not perfectly in front of him, but it was in front of him, and he had time to whack it. Instead, he took another touch, and messed it up.
It's weird, and I don't know what the explanation is.

Probably coaching, he’ll be coached to think team first, last year in the derby he’d probably have hit that shot instead he looked and squared it for Foden.

 

[Gabriel]

This. This is what I've been noticing. He's been doing it in quite a few matches. Last season he wasn't thinking twice. He didn't need a touch to set himself up. He sniffed half a chance, he'd shoot — goal!
He did it yesterday in the first half. Was put through into the box, was at least a half-chance, the ball was not perfectly in front of him, but it was in front of him, and he had time to whack it. Instead, he took another touch, and messed it up.
It's weird, and I don't know what the explanation is.

A little anxiety perhaps. A little wanting to be extra sure if chances aren’t presenting themselves quite as often. And maybe a little us pontificating over minor details.

Did love the bit when he tapped the defender’s bum, cheeky.