9 | Erling Haaland - 2023/24

[MadchesterCity]

Fucking hell, what is this? It's like Andy Carroll.

But worse

 

[eastmanc]

I have mixed feelings on his performance last night.

Some of his play with his back to goal was/is absolutely rancid. For such a unit, he gets dispossessed far too easily. He has to learn to protect the ball much better, so that we can play the ball into him and build attacks off him. Despite the poor play outside the box, he was unlucky not to score and I think it’s clear that we lost something when he went off. We were completely dominant for 80+ mins but we didn’t look anywhere near as threatening when he was replaced.

Plus he's our best penalty taker along with KDB who were both off the pitch at the end of extra time.

 

[eastmanc]

Another utter dog shit performance

Let's get rid eh.

 

[eastmanc]

Let's get rid eh.

81 in less than 90 games. Some fans have very short memories.

 

[rowarta]

81 in less than 90 games. Some fans have very short memories.

or very long memories, eg Gerry Creaney.....

 

[eastmanc]

or very long memories, eg Gerry Creaney.....

Now there was a very poor centre forward.

 

[01cravend]

Think one of his biggest issues is he lacks aggression. It makes him easy to bully, when in reality defenders should be bouncing off him. We've seen him floor cbs before, it's in there, it needs coaxing out. As right now instead of having that edge it gives you he's laughing and joking with Belligham as we're setting up to take a corner.

 

[bluethai]

just hope he adds more aggression to his game, rather than smiling and joking with opponents while they enjoy shutting him down.

 

[footballmanager]

i dont know why people keep pilling on, without service he is ineffective but much of it is by design, pep wants him in the box. I thought we tried to get him crosses in the first half but they were either too short or too long.

Ideally we should have more specific plays to feed him but the only guy who seems to have some sort of chemistry and who actively looks for him is kdb, who was mostly out injured this season

 

[markbmcfc]

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.