9 | Erling Haaland - 2023/24

He’s had bumper harvests against the weaker teams and that’s all well and good; we need those points to win the games to win leagues and to get to the finals. That said, unless he can start converting chances against better teams, sooner or later the two-point advantage over second place is going to evaporate. He simply needs to be more ruthless and less rueful. Seen from the team picture, every time he misses a succession of early chances or fails to get us three ahead, it delays Guardiola in making substitutions, and those delays add up to more minutes on the field for the senior players. It’s not only Haaland who is culpable, of course, but when so many chances go through him, he inevitably takes the lion’s share of praise and blame.
At the same time, if we had a bench of players whom Guardiola fully trusted, then it wouldn’t be such a problem. Haaland needs a long summer off and time to work on aspects of his overall game, while Guardiola needs a long summer off and to work on two systems: one that gets the best out of Haaland and another one which can be implemented when he’s not performing.
 
RayCTID said:
It is still two goals in a important game. You can't deny that.
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I would most likely have scored both at his age, and even now at 69, I could have matched his performance in the rest of the game
He's a great goal scorer but just not a very good footballer. I really can't believe that some people think he's anywhere near the same level as Messi, Ronaldo, etc.
 
Haaland's like Foden's game suffered yesterday like always when we play keep ball for the sake of it. Most games we end up with the points but not when faced with an energetic and resolute defence. Both do better when they receive the ball on the move. 15 to 20 passes between static players only to give the ball back to the opposition allows defences to organise and set. You might lose the ball more often but we would do better trading our 70% possession for a riskier higher tempo.
 
Lavinda Past said:
I would most likely have scored both at his age, and even now at 69, I could have matched his performance in the rest of the game
He's a great goal scorer but just not a very good footballer. I really can't believe that some people think he's anywhere near the same level as Messi, Ronaldo, etc.
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He is similar to one of his idol's Zlatan Ibrahimovic which as you described not a good allrounder but a great goalscorer.
 
Lavinda Past said:
I would most likely have scored both at his age, and even now at 69, I could have matched his performance in the rest of the game
He's a great goal scorer but just not a very good footballer. I really can't believe that some people think he's anywhere near the same level as Messi, Ronaldo, etc.
Click to expand...
Correct. He can certainly improve a lot but he’s never going to turn into a great technical player. He’s levels off Kane as actual footballer. Never mind putting him in the same sentence as some of the best players ever
 
Fordyboy46 said:
What a dire performance yesterday from him, and as a lot of fans are saying he just doesn't turn up in the big matches. Frustrating player is Erling
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I guarantee if we pass him the ball he'll do more with it. It's not big games, it's our tactics in big games. He wants to play off the shoulder, we want to keep the ball for 20 minutes allow defenses to form 2 banks of five and then break it down. The two aren't compatible and he still scores goals for fun.
 
This is really poor if he ends up missing it. Hopefully he has plans for a flight back because if not this is pretty shit of him.

 
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