9 | Erling Haaland - 2023/24

[MadchesterCity]

Was dogshit today

 

[OrigamiNinja]

No it is double striker effect. We played much better with single striker most of the time. We played well just in the middle of the week. We played as a functional team whenever we played one striker.

Halaand + Alvarez experiment needs to stop except facing very weak teams. They can have a fair competition for one spot.

They can’t and that’s why we are where we are.

I like Alvarez, I think he is a fantastic striker in his own right and he would be the 1st choice striker for 99% of teams in the world. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on POV), we are the 1% where he isn’t. He’s not better than Haaland up top and he is nowhere near the levels of Foden or KDB in behind.

He’s too good for the bench but not good enough to start every week for us. He won’t stay here if he’s not playing regularly but shoehorning him in is costing us. We might have to let him go for the good of him and the team.

 

[Frankie lad]

We will see what the big fella is like soon.
Manure,Liverpool,Champions league,Arsenal.
These are the games the top boys have to turn up not Burnley at home.

 

[nellyonthewing]

They can’t and that’s why we are where we are.

I like Alvarez, I think he is a fantastic striker in his own right and he would be the 1st choice striker for 99% of teams in the world. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on POV), we are the 1% where he isn’t. He’s not better than Haaland up top and he is nowhere near the levels of Foden or KDB in behind.

He’s too good for the bench but not good enough to start every week for us. He won’t stay here if he’s not playing regularly but shoehorning him in is costing us. We might have to let him go for the good of him and the team.

Alvarez was a great supporting act for Messi. Haaland is no Messi. If he leaves he will be a top player for one of our opponents. God forbid he ever went to Manure or the Dippers.

 

[city warrior]

They can’t and that’s why we are where we are.

I like Alvarez, I think he is a fantastic striker in his own right and he would be the 1st choice striker for 99% of teams in the world. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on POV), we are the 1% where he isn’t. He’s not better than Haaland up top and he is nowhere near the levels of Foden or KDB in behind.

He’s too good for the bench but not good enough to start every week for us. He won’t stay here if he’s not playing regularly but shoehorning him in is costing us. We might have to let him go for the good of him and the team.

I think this a very difricult choice for the future too, because I think most people would agree Haaland will be here for 3-4 years.

I think City were surprised in how fast Alvarez adapted, and they were thinking about him being the replacement for Haaland in 3 years when he went to prove another league.

I agree with Pep, that we should try to keep Alvarez here, and the only way is to make him a midfielder. It's not working, and Pep clearly sees it (after all Alvarez has been the first one to be changed lately). I honestly think Alvarez will play less and less, but he will be a starter against low table teams.

 

[madloaf]

Wow... Suarez may be a piece of shit, but disrespecting his game says all I need to know about you.

Haaland is 17 goals behind Suarez. 56 games to go to get them. Worth noting.

 

[Keeper!]

Shocking performance today, and shows he has so much to work on as expected for a young player.

How a big lump like that can be so poor at heading the ball is a strange one.

And what has happened to the player that used to bully defenders?

 

[mancityscot]

He was pathetic yesterday, hopefully just a bad day at the office.

 

[robbieh]

They can’t and that’s why we are where we are.

I like Alvarez, I think he is a fantastic striker in his own right and he would be the 1st choice striker for 99% of teams in the world. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on POV), we are the 1% where he isn’t. He’s not better than Haaland up top and he is nowhere near the levels of Foden or KDB in behind.

He’s too good for the bench but not good enough to start every week for us. He won’t stay here if he’s not playing regularly but shoehorning him in is costing us. We might have to let him go for the good of him and the team.

This is the problem in a nutshell. If Erling does have designs on a move to Madrid then we tell Alvarez he will be our next Kun.
If it's all paper talk then we let Julian go there instead.
For me Haaland is a better goalscorer, obviously, but Alvarez suits our possession based style better.

 

[samuelyeboah]

It's not the missed chances for me

It's the just god awful positioning which has been a theme of his this season. Doku received so much shit but if you go and watch the game, he's actually put some great crosses in after skinning his defender, multiple times. so did KDB. but haaland is *never* there. he somehow ALWAYS managed to be somewhere else. he always manages to be on the far post where he needs to be on the near post. he doesn't make enough of an effort to free himself from defenders. it's almost as if he just expects a perfect ball to land at his feet. It's not good enough, simply not good enough. a world class striker needs to make himself available, and it seems like he's deliberately making himself hard to find.