I never said he was beyond criticism. Nobody is. But I'd actually argue that it's bollocks that he gets cut loads of slack. Same with Foden and the amount of shite he gets when he's not in form. If anything, because of the high standards they set themselves they come in for far more stick when they're not doing the business. Oh, and I see you're falling into the trap of confusing a poor game with a lack of effort.Listen gobshite. I don’t have a problem with Haaland and i don’t have a problem with Pep. If you think Haaland would be Pep’s dream striker then you’re very deluded. We know what Haaland is like as a player and we know he’s an unbelievable goal scorer.
Haaland not scoring whilst the team is also struggling is a problem. It’s more of a problem than if you had a Kane or Tevez and they’d scored 1 pen in 8 games. Of course you’d want them to start scoring again soon but they’d be contributing far more to the team.
He will obviously get back to scoring again but at the moment the team is struggling and either resting or dropping him for a week or 2 wouldn’t be the worst idea. If we’re still shit he can come on off the bench.
If you think he’s beyond criticism after such a gutless derby performance because of how many goals he’s scored then that’s up to you. May as well close this part of the forum as nobody could criticise Pep or half our players ever.
In professional football, getting paid that much, he knows himself its shit and isnt acceptable. There is no sugar coating it, he has to put himself about more. A 6ft 5 striker who isnt scoring and refuses to put his body about and do other things for the team is quite frankly embarrassing. Haaland would be so much more effective if he used his size and attacked crosses more. Now how scary would that haaland be considering what we have already seen from him?I see the knives are out for him. Not disputing that he's not been on it recently as the stats alone back that up. What I would say is that when he was banging them in for fun not long ago, all his critics were conspicuous by their absence in this thread and absolutely nobody was calling out his effort or saying he doesn't suit our style of play, etc. In fact, many were saying he'd actually stepped it up a notch this season and his all round play has improved. Now all of a sudden, he's no use whatsoever to the team if he isn't scoring goals. Yet plenty of times this season, he's been our best defender when heading balls clear from danger so all this bollocks that he doesn't add anything to the team except goals is exactly that...bollocks.
Personally I just think he's on a poor run of form and he's as frustrated as the rest of us about that. It's not the first time that he's suffered a dip in form around this time of year either, so I'm fully expecting him to be back scoring soon enough.
I’m old enough to remember both, and I can’t remember either showing a lack of enthusiasm like Haaland at the moment or being knocked off the ball as easilyYou can say the same about most strikers. I'm old enough to remember people coming out with that line about the likes of Ian Rush and Gary Lineker when they were in the middle of a barren spell, but they were both back scoring soon enough just as Haaland will be
We’ll agree to disagree i think people expect goals from Haaland and he’s set ridiculous standards on that front admittedly but not much else.I never said he was beyond criticism. Nobody is. But I'd actually argue that it's bollocks that he gets cut loads of slack. Same with Foden and the amount of shite he gets when he's not in form. If anything, because of the high standards they set themselves they come in for far more stick when they're not doing the business. Oh, and I see you're falling into the trap of confusing a poor game with a lack of effort.
A lot of our players were getting knocked off the ball on Saturday, not just Haaland. However, I don't believe any player goes out on the pitch to deliberately get knocked of the ball/put in a poor performance/etc, so for me it's more a form/fitness issue. Haaland's played pretty much every game since the start of the season for club and country and I believe that's definitely been a factor in his recent loss of form. And that was probably the main reason why there was a big drop-off in Foden's form last season as he'd run himself into the ground the previous 3 or 4 seasons and eventually hit a brick wall. We've seen plenty of flashes of the old Foden this season but the consistency still isn't quite there.We’ll agree to disagree i think people expect goals from Haaland and he’s set ridiculous standards on that front admittedly but not much else.
With Foden, i’m gutted to see how much he’s struggling to get back to anywhere near his best. I maybe had unrealistic goals for him as i thought due to his talent he could kick on even more than the season we last won the league. Not in terms of goals as everything he hit flew in but just his general play. Biggest shame for that lad is losing that burst of pace so young as that really helped alongside his great feet.
I don’t expect Haaland to run about like a loon. Whilst at that shithole on Saturday though i really thought he could have put a lot more in. He’s shown he can use his strength to hold the ball up when he gets the bit between his teeth but on Saturday he really was miles from that.
You can say the same about most strikers. I'm old enough to remember people coming out with that line about the likes of Ian Rush and Gary Lineker when they were in the middle of a barren spell, but they were both back scoring soon enough just as Haaland will be
Exactly so with our fragile defence and midfield it would be far better for us to sit 20 yards deeper and try let the opposition come on to us.The interesting thing is that were he playing against us with our high defensive line he'd have an absolute field day. He'd be one on one with the keeper every 5 minutes.
He's a great striker but I remain unconvinced that we are a better team with him. He's pretty static and due to the way we play there is a big area outside the penalty area where he just gets in the way of our more creative players.
You sound like the kind of **** who thinks all our players are wank and our manager is a useless twat because we're on a poor run of form. I'm glad you're not stood next to me at the fucking match!
We’ll agree to disagree i think people expect goals from Haaland and he’s set ridiculous standards on that front admittedly but not much else.
With Foden, i’m gutted to see how much he’s struggling to get back to anywhere near his best. I maybe had unrealistic goals for him as i thought due to his talent he could kick on even more than the season we last won the league. Not in terms of goals as everything he hit flew in but just his general play. Biggest shame for that lad is losing that burst of pace so young as that really helped alongside his great feet.
I don’t expect Haaland to run about like a loon. Whilst at that shithole on Saturday though i really thought he could have put a lot more in. He’s shown he can use his strength to hold the ball up when he gets the bit between his teeth but on Saturday he really was miles from that.
Posters have discussed his all round game since he arrived I presume you must have missed them all by some unlucky coincidence.I see the knives are out for him. Not disputing that he's not been on it recently as the stats alone back that up. What I would say is that when he was banging them in for fun not long ago, all his critics were conspicuous by their absence in this thread and absolutely nobody was calling out his effort or saying he doesn't suit our style of play, etc. In fact, many were saying he'd actually stepped it up a notch this season and his all round play has improved. Now all of a sudden, he's no use whatsoever to the team if he isn't scoring goals. Yet plenty of times this season, he's been our best defender when heading balls clear from danger so all this bollocks that he doesn't add anything to the team except goals is exactly that...bollocks.
Personally I just think he's on a poor run of form and he's as frustrated as the rest of us about that. It's not the first time that he's suffered a dip in form around this time of year either, so I'm fully expecting him to be back scoring soon enough.
Not really mate. I've said before that his all round game is underrated because he's capable of far more than just scoring goals. Look back at his first season for example. He wasn't just banging them in for fun. His hold-up play was very good and he got a fair few assists too. He also does a lot of spade work at the back when we're defending set pieces. Obviously, none of those traits are really shining through at the moment but they're still there.Posters have discussed his all round game since he arrived I presume you must have missed them all by some unlucky coincidence.
Oh sorry - was I talking to you?What's with the aggressive tone?
He's won shit loads of those duels down the years FFS. Just because he hasn't done it in the odd game doesn't mean it's the norm and we should conveniently forget all the times he has done it. Jesus wept.Look I've seen many strikers in my life, specially in the 90s. I remember Savo Milosevic. Not as tall as Haaland, but he always fighting with the opponent defenders, holding the ball, being an aerial threat... It seems Haaland can't do any of that. We are not claiming for things he can't do like dropping deep, play in tight spaces or dribble opponents. We just claim fight and win duels, he has enormous physicality to do that and it's embarrasing he can't win duels against small defenders as Lisandro Martínez. That's mental.
He's won shit loads of those duels down the years FFS. Just because he hasn't done it in the odd game doesn't mean it's the norm and we should conveniently forget all the times he has done it. Jesus wept.
I think because he is pretty uninvolved for a lot of the time when he does control it and lay it off it stands out that much more people notice it more. A good centre forward does this kind of stuff all the time. It not his skillset really.Not really mate. I've said before that his all round game is underrated because he's capable of far more than just scoring goals. Look back at his first season for example. He wasn't just banging them in for fun. His hold-up play was very good and he got a fair few assists too. He also does a lot of spade work at the back when we're defending set pieces. Obviously, none of those traits are really shining through at the moment but they're still there.