9 | Erling Haaland - 2023/24

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simon23 said:
Haalands over all play hasnt been great but that is not what he was bought for...no team will ever buy him for that...he is a goal scorer and in that he is one of the best in the business

Those expecting him to be a tevez or even alvarez and be involved in build up play are going to wait a very long time...he does do it but it is lmiited....Pep wants him near to the goal where he is a threat

He isnt a Aguero where he can score from any angle.....he will get goals that aguero wouldnt get at times due to his height and ahtleticism (vs Dortmund last year for instance) but he doesnt score that goal that Kun did vs the scousers for instance at the near post....he isnt physically capable of that due to his size....

The team has to adapt to Haaland...we have heard Pep say this in that when he say "we have to find Earling more"

The bigger worrying factor for me is the above...unless KDB is around no one else seems able (or at least willing to take the chance to) find haaland regularly....He makes so many runs and the likes of Bernardo, Foden, Kovacic, Grealish dont put the ball into the box or in behind....All these players have the ability but they just dont seem to do it..they more focus on the short intricate passes or sometimes safer pass
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Your last paragraph sums up the EH issue.
We play short intricate passes because that is the Pep way. It’s all about possession. He doesn’t encourage dribbling or speculative passes because it leaves us vulnerable to the counterattack.
i think we all agree this doesn’t suit Haaland. He needs space.
Defending deep is proving to work, so others will follow.
In those games surely it is best change things up and bring Alvarez on.
 
I really don't get the criticism of Haaland.

Pep has a very strict idea of how we should play and in certain games that gets even stricter. We've seen him kick off with De Bruyne in previous campaigns and go mental at individual players.

I think everyone would acknowledge our weakness this season has been defensively, and in particularly from counter attacks. Real Madrid are one of the best out there at countering the opposition. So what's the best way to defend it?

A) Play hopeful balls in behind that are unlikely to come off and lead to the opposition getting the ball with your players out of position

B) Keep the ball, play it safe and let your striker push and pull the defenders out of position and slot them in only when the ball is low risk

Whilst De Bruyne is the best at playing the ball into Haaland, he still scores plenty of fucking goals. But in certain games we're going to be much more patient and safe in possession to ensure we don't concede. On Tuesday one of their goals came from a roll out inside their box from their keeper. If we'd have kept playing it long and tried to find Haaland more it's likely that could have happened more often.
 
BerkshireBlue said:
And why do you think they were playing a low block with 9 players back? it's becuse we have the best striker in the world. So your arguments fall apart at the first hurdle
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Don't fool yourself mate, teams have been playing low blocks against us since Pep's been here.

I still remember a memorable 10-0-0 formation Aletico Madrid played against us, big Erl wasn't here
 
Isn’t all this Haaland-discussion simply about just the question:

Do you rather want him in your teams squad or play against him?

How many Cityfans and opposite fans (exclude the blinded-by-envy ones) would vote for the latter? That’s as rhetorical a question as the first one question.
 
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