9 | Erling Haaland - 2023/24

[RayCTID]

Not completely excused but he was denied a chance to take a penalty to get try and get us back in the match.

 

[Kinkladze 1]

Another big game and again he goes missing. 90 minutes in the pocket of a dwarf who’s not played for months but then again the mighty Johnny Evans had already schooled him this season .
We cannot afford such a luxury option as Haaland.

First paragraph agree. Last sentence not sure. I do feel our style doesn’t play to his strengths whatsoever

 

[Tier2Blue]

It’s hard as you cannot ignore his goal tally but equally he hasn’t scored at anfield, Wembley, Emirates or Bernabeu this season from recall. The flat track bully argument is tough because all strikers score more against the poorer sides but we cannot get away from the fact that in his two seasons he hasn’t scored goals in our biggest games bar the Bayern game. When he doesn’t score he doesn’t contribute much to the game in other ways and he hasn’t got more rounded in his game despite 2 years under Pep. But maybe his contribution is distracting defenders. Maybe a winger who crosses would help plus a fit and firing kev? He isn’t going anywhere so maybe we adapt to his game not expect him to adapt to ours ?

 

[RayCTID]

It’s hard as you cannot ignore his goal tally but equally he hasn’t scored at anfield, Wembley, Emirates or Bernabeu this season from recall. The flat track bully argument is tough because all strikers score more against the poorer sides but we cannot get away from the fact that in his two seasons he hasn’t scored goals in our biggest games bar the Bayern game. When he doesn’t score he doesn’t contribute much to the game in other ways and he hasn’t got more rounded in his game despite 2 years under Pep. But maybe his contribution is distracting defenders. Maybe a winger who crosses would help plus a fit and firing kev? He isn’t going anywhere so maybe we adapt to his game not expect him to adapt to ours ?

But he scored two vs Spurs a couple of games back which was equally important. Would have scored if Madley and his fellow officals did their jobs.

 

[Blue_Lightsaber]

Did he get any service today?

Refs and Var not giving 2 pens. Foden invisible. KDB off game. Rodri fatigued. Josko terrible. Ortega massive mistake. Walker sleeping. Stones out of form. Pep admitting he got the tactics wrong and yet.. Haaland is the punching bag!

Boggles the mind how the human brain has a tendency to deceive itself!

 

[Lavinda Past]

First paragraph agree. Last sentence not sure. I do feel our style doesn’t play to his strengths whatsoever

Exactly. If Pep doesn't adapt our style to fit Haaland, he's a luxury player that we may not be able to afford for much longer.
The simple fact is that, fully fit or not, Erling Haaland appears not to be capable of adapting his game to Pep's style of play.
He really is a very, very, limited footballer.

 

[KennyG]

Exactly. If Pep doesn't adapt our style to fit Haaland, he's a luxury player that we may not be able to afford for much longer.
The simple fact is that, fully fit or not, Erling Haaland appears not to be capable of adapting his game to Pep's style of play.
He really is a very, very, limited footballer.

Bullseye!

 

[David White]

We’re getting nowhere near the best out of him. He has to adapt and the team need to adapt. He’s far too easy to play against at times and he’s too soft for his size.

Sounds daft but I want to see him get booked. I want him to flatten a few defenders so the opposition fear him like they did last season. We know he can do it.

The other consequence of our slow build up play is that he isn’t making runs towards the near post, he’s not challenging hard enough in the air and he’s on his heels and isn’t reacting quickly enough.

Great that he’s won the golden boot, of course and well done to him, but if he wants to be the best, and I’m sure he does, then he needs to up his game and demand more from his teammates.

 

[hilts]

Do you think Haaland and Aguero are not great forwards?

One is

 

[city2]

He has done what we wanted of him, and now we need to give serious thoughts of how we precede with him next season.