9 | Erling Haaland - 2023/24

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Needs support and a bit of love not everyone piling into him. He's having a run of poor form but he will figure it out, he's a smart guy and it's a unique challenge. Every team we play plays deep and compact now, even the top ones, because they see that if you do anything else he will kill you

I fear it's starting to get to the point that people will start expressing frustration towards him during games though. As others have said on here some City fans have a nasty streak and want to have a whipping boy. I never thought it would be the goal scoring record holder mind you.
 
Haaland needs service, he ain’t Messi where he can go pick the ball up and beat 4 men and put it in the net. KDB has been missing half the season, Grealish seems to be just getting over injuries that have hampered him all season, two big factors in the service he got last year in Mahrez and Gundogan are not here anymore. We had their replacements on the bench which cost over £100 million in transfer fees which Pep didn’t trust to start or bring on during the game last night which shows where City’s differences are compared to last year. Some people won’t be happy until he’s packed off to Madrid where he would get a lot better service with Vinicious and Rodrygo causing chaos ever side of him.
 
The main difference from last season to this season i think is effort and desire. Last season he was bullying defenders and constantly finding space to get a shot in. This season i don't see him doing the same. Most of the time he looks passive and shackled. Since his injury he hasn't looked the same player and he doesn't look fit.

Haaland has been mostly marked out of games this season but I'm not having "he makes space for others" and similar remarks. Last season he made his own space, sometimes Pep mentioned a few times. He was a defenders worst nightmare, always looking for space and using strength and burst of pace to find it.

When we play balls directly to him or to run on to (mainly Kev's) he looks the best there is in one on one situations but we don't get the ball to him enough. Something doesn't seem quite right about him this season. He's often not tuned in to how we play and it's becoming concerning.
 
Working hard, but any player his size and strength should be using such attributes to hold up and protect the ball, while support arrives…or bring it down and take the guy on.
 
Obviously struggling for form. But also getting limited service.
The team last night was never going to create masses of chances. Feeding off scraps.
 
He is on a poor run of form and has had a poor season in comparison to last but then again last year was a freak.

We're still in with a shout of the treble which is mental given he's been off the pace for large parts. He will chip in with a few goals towards the end of the season I'm sure.

Wouldn't be surprised to see him come back next season and score for fun again.
 
Haaland is one of the main reasons teams sit so deep against us. He thrives on space in behind, either from far out or closer in to goal. Take away the option of running in behind by playing really deep and it makes it easier for defenders. It'd be hard for any striker, but he doesn't have the trickery for close quarters play. The one striker I think would be great against that would be Aguero actually.

I don't want rid of him by any means, and the answer certainly isn't replacing him with 'player X' long term. But I do think he shouldn't be treated as a protected species and if the tactics are making him ineffective, he should taken off and things changed round. Alvarez as a forward, is horrible for defenders to play against because of his constant movement and pressing, so stick him there for a bit.
 
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he needs some fucking service and outside of KDB rarely ever gets a proper pass which is strange as creative players like Grealish, Bernardo, Foden with some crosses-through balls and some lobbed balls into the box from Kova, Rodri should not be that difficult but rarely happens.
 
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