9 | Erling Haaland - 2023/24

[Blu1]

He’s not fit & getting zero service.

When he came off we looked worse in my opinion & I wanted him off! Lol Madrid was able to push forward more when he came off

Do we really want a player that’s in the line up to occupy defenders or somebody to score goals ? No Kev no haaland sadly

The issue is we only have one striker! Now that’s insane for a club like city

 

[youngbob]

Frustrating to watch this Season. I think its time to give alvarez the chance and starts for the next games.
He makes us less fluid in our build up and around the Box as he cant hold the ball. I know teams are aware of him all the time. But remember we won the league with a false 9

And when we played with a false nine people like you were complaining that we weren't clinical enough and that we needed a "proper number 9" up there instead of Jesus.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Think with Erling is he just isn't a very good footballer. Average in most all round attributes.

However, he typically has a very good feeling for where to be to get on the end of things and from there his finishes are usually quite simple. He's scores lots for us because we create lots.

The difficulty we have with him is we didn't really buy him to score a hatrick against Notts Forest. We bought him to be the difference in games like this, because the true elite always step up.

He most definitely isn't worth the level of wages he's on but for what we bought him for, it's still good business and we have to try and get the best out of him, and he has to improve his all round game for this level.

I just see him as a really good striker, perhaps not suited to playing low blocks every week, and enjoy his goals which he will always score.

It's when you start to say he's elite and the next generation of superstar after Messi etc when he's a million miles from that level. Messi would have scored about 4 last night.

It's all about expectations I think with Erling.

That’s about it in a nutshell and if we’re gonna get the best out of him then we need to either completely change the way we play or hope that the opposition abandons the low block gambit….neither of which looks a realistic proposition.
We have to factor in the injury issues and how they might be limiting what he can do on the pitch at the moment, but that notwithstanding if it was any other player he’d be getting hammered based on his current level of performance.
Aguero’s record against the ‘big 6’ was extraordinarily good. Haaland’s is poor, it's as simple as that. He’s missing more than his fair share of sitters, he can’t press, compared to his team mates he’s got the first touch of a horse, his hold up/link up play is poor, and he ends up on the floor way too often in physical duals with tight marking centre halves. He has his strengths as well very obviously, but we aren’t playing to them and, like you say, stat padding against smaller teams isn’t what we bought him for.

 

[footballmanager]

getting ptsd from ibrahimovic time at barça. thankfully Haaland had a cracking first season even if a bit underwhelming vs top competition

 

[youngbob]

I understand Haaland's having some problems at the moment, but I think a lot of people are forgetting what Aguero's second season was actually like. We look back on him like he was perfect from the moment he arrived until the moment he left but that wasn't the case. He scored 30 goals in his first season and came up with massive moments in crucial games - his record was 0.63 goals per game. But in his second season he was carrying an injury, defenders in this country had adapted to his style, and his scoring rate dropped down to 0.42 goals per game. He had to shake things up to get better and he did, with his scoring rate jumping back up to 0.82 goals per game in the 13/14 season. From there he never looked back.

Seasons like this are the making of strikers because it's about how they learn from fallow periods. One big example I always come back to is Didier Drogba, who is a proper Premier League legend, a Chelsea legend, and is considered one of the greatest strikers to ever play the game. In his first two seasons he scored 0.39 goals per game. His best ever season for Chelsea (during his first time there) was the 09-10 season when he scored 0.89 goals per game. His next best is 0.55 goals per game, and his average during his Chelsea career was 0.46 goals per game. Currently Haaland is scoring 0.91 goals per game - this season he's scoring 0.79 goals per game. I think Haaland and the rest of our players could be doing more to work better together but he's not a major worry imo.

 

[Craig]

Why what's happening in October?:-)

He’s gonna start controlling the ball

 

[bell_mcfc]

At least Norway aren’t in the euros and he’ll get a full summer to recover if carrying any injuries.

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

I understand Haaland's having some problems at the moment, but I think a lot of people are forgetting what Aguero's second season was actually like. We look back on him like he was perfect from the moment he arrived until the moment he left but that wasn't the case. He scored 30 goals in his first season and came up with massive moments in crucial games - his record was 0.63 goals per game. But in his second season he was carrying an injury, defenders in this country had adapted to his style, and his scoring rate dropped down to 0.42 goals per game. He had to shake things up to get better and he did, with his scoring rate jumping back up to 0.82 goals per game in the 13/14 season. From there he never looked back.

Seasons like this are the making of strikers because it's about how they learn from fallow periods. One big example I always come back to is Didier Drogba, who is a proper Premier League legend, a Chelsea legend, and is considered one of the greatest strikers to ever play the game. In his first two seasons he scored 0.39 goals per game. His best ever season for Chelsea (during his first time there) was the 09-10 season when he scored 0.89 goals per game. His next best is 0.55 goals per game, and his average during his Chelsea career was 0.46 goals per game. Currently Haaland is scoring 0.91 goals per game - this season he's scoring 0.79 goals per game. I think Haaland and the rest of our players could be doing more to work better together but he's not a major worry imo.

Can we not compare Aguero to Haaland. In 12/13 he scored against Real Madrid, scored the winner against United, equaliser against Liverpool, scored the first against Spurs and the winner against a good Chelsea team

Aguero turned up in the big games.

 

[youngbob]

Can we not compare Aguero to Haaland. In 12/13 he scored against Real Madrid, scored the winner against United, equaliser against Liverpool, scored the first against Spurs and the winner against a good Chelsea team

Aguero turned up in the big games.

And yet we won nothing that season while Aguero finished with a massive 17 goals.

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

And yet we won nothing that season while Aguero finished with a massive 17 goals.

So Haaland has a better manager with players more capable of bailing out his poor performances? Yes Aguero could have scored more against the likes of QPR and Reading. Not sure what your point is.