9 | Erling Haaland - 2023/24

[WallyA]

I’m not evaluating it on that, I’m just saying he didn’t make a good target man. He was not involved enough, didn’t win enough of the ball, and didn’t hold it up enough.

It isn’t sacrilege to say he was poor.

He was a good target man in the sense that when we targetted him for the ball, he kept it and laid it off. He held the ball excellently.

Its not his fault he didnt receive as a target man constantly, the midfield and defense got smothered by the press.

Saying he is poor is still wrong.

He wasnt great, but if you want to criticize the forward line, Alvarez and KdB were miles worse.

Foden and Bernie werent any good either.

 

[meeesh]

Definitely mate. But we have to remember he’s still only a half dozen games back from his lay off and his goals have probably given us fans a reason to get ahead of ourselves.
He’s been sluggish at times but that’s to be expected.
I just think he’s the kind of player we should embrace and not let our emotions get the better of us when he’s not great.

Oh I’ll be upset if he doesn’t hit 35 plus this season, but he’s set that bar mate not me

 

[Wretched Vengeance]

This fucking place is a disgrace at times. Some of these comments are fucking diabolical.

At least two of the cunts posting are not City fans and can get to fuck.

 

[ninjamonkey]

What exactly did people want him to do today? We set up in a manner that didn't bring him into play until we entered their box, we barely entered their box. Not sure what people expect when that's the case. It's like if we played a game where we conceded no shots on target and then moaned about the keeper doing nothing. Blame the tactics for not utilizing him more.

 

[wolfie1988]

Finding it pretty tough with him at the minute. Just don't feel like his movement is quite there. Might be that he is still suffering a bit of rustiness after the lay off but don't feel he's anywhere near as active when we have the ball at the byline or in wide areas as he was last year.

 

[ford7]

What exactly did people want him to do today? We set up in a manner that didn't bring him into play until we entered their box, we barely entered their box. Not sure what people expect when that's the case. It's like if we played a game where we conceded no shots on target and then moaned about the keeper doing nothing. Blame the tactics for not utilizing him more.

This is what I don't understand. Pep is very detail-oriented. He has everything planned down to the tiniest bit. If Haaland isn't moving a certain way on the pitch, it's because of Pep. It would be another thing if Pep instructed him to play differently (tactically) but I don't see any evidence of that. Henry said something similar the other day.

 

[wolviedinho]

Looks bored running about and chasing defenders. The midfield hasn’t helped him this season. The through ball today was under hit and he still nearly made it work.

We need to play it up to him quicker. He probably didn’t have his best day but we are not using him properly and that is on his team mates and pep. Get him some decent opportunities and he will score. Losing the ball in midfield time and time again and he won’t.

It all stems from midfield and we don’t have a functioning unit imo.

 

[roach3]

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this from erling this season, he’s def a yard of the pace from last season and yes he’s scored loads of goals if we use this metric and maybe we should but too many times it seems we are playing with 10 men.

I’m not afraid to call him out in games like this despite the fanboys.

He was total shit today and didn’t look on the pace at all.

He has loads of goals in the bank but games like this we need a little more.

Pep should have took him off around the 70min mark and tried something else.

 

[TrentGrisham]

What exactly did people want him to do today? We set up in a manner that didn't bring him into play until we entered their box, we barely entered their box. Not sure what people expect when that's the case. It's like if we played a game where we conceded no shots on target and then moaned about the keeper doing nothing. Blame the tactics for not utilizing him more.

When we did enter the box, he wasn't even there.

 

[Keeper!]

Was he fit?

If not that was one of the worst performances of a player in Pep's time with us, never showed up and walked around the pitch for 90 mins.

Pull your finger out big man, simply not good enough today in any way.