9 | Erling Haaland - 2025/26

skillman said:
Robot. The only surprising thing about today was his 1v1 miss to get a hat trick!
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Goalkeepers have really done their homework on him.
They’ve noticed that a huge percentage of his shots go low to their right-hand side, so a few of them — like Martínez and Pickford — have started diving early, even before he strikes the ball, and managed to keep those efforts out.

I’d say out of fifty shots like that, forty end up in the back of the net. The trick is all about the power — when he hits it properly, like with his first goal today, it doesn’t matter that the ’keeper knows where it’s going, it still flies in. But when he doesn’t strike it cleanly, like against Aston Villa, it’s an easy save.

Despite his impressive scoring rate, he really should try going the other way from time to time, just to keep the goalkeepers guessing.

It’s also a real shame he didn’t round off the day with a hat-trick — he’s been waiting over a year for one. He’s scored with a lob before, but it seems keepers are wise to that trick now. In that situation he was simply too close — if he’d just put his foot through it and smashed it, he would’ve burst the net and the Bournemouth keeper wouldn’t have stood a chance. The lob attempt was probably the easiest save the keeper had to make all afternoon.
 
TurboDuo said:
Goalkeepers have really done their homework on him.
They’ve noticed that a huge percentage of his shots go low to their right-hand side, so a few of them — like Martínez and Pickford — have started diving early, even before he strikes the ball, and managed to keep those efforts out.

I’d say out of fifty shots like that, forty end up in the back of the net. The trick is all about the power — when he hits it properly, like with his first goal today, it doesn’t matter that the ’keeper knows where it’s going, it still flies in. But when he doesn’t strike it cleanly, like against Aston Villa, it’s an easy save.

Despite his impressive scoring rate, he really should try going the other way from time to time, just to keep the goalkeepers guessing.

It’s also a real shame he didn’t round off the day with a hat-trick — he’s been waiting over a year for one. He’s scored with a lob before, but it seems keepers are wise to that trick now. In that situation he was simply too close — if he’d just put his foot through it and smashed it, he would’ve burst the net and the Bournemouth keeper wouldn’t have stood a chance. The lob attempt was probably the easiest save the keeper had to make all afternoon.
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To be fair. Of the 3 one on ones he had today, every single finish was different - hammered to the keeper’s right (near post), rounded the keeper then tried the chip which he’s introduced in recent seasons to try and sit the keeper down.
 
He probably only needs 5/6 more goals to win the golden boot, can’t see anyone else getting near 20.

He could be the first to 40 PL goals, reckon if he does ill never see it again(unless he does it again).

Legend already.
 
FromPollockToSilva said:
Some of his link-up play today was honestly beyond what I thought he was capable of when he first arrived. The touch, the movement, the directness. Just keeps improving his game at a frightening level this season
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Summed up his game well, but perhaps missed his improving passing
 
Middedon said:
Posted in the media thread as well, but ESPN ranked Haaland as the top PL player of the season so far. Their commentary:

By scoring zero non-penalty goals through the first nine games of this season, I'm closer to second place on the Premier League goal-scoring charts than the player in second is to Haaland in first. He has turned the Premier League into the Austrian Bundesliga.

www.espn.com

Ranked: The top 50 players of the Premier League season so far

Now that we're nine games into the Premier League season, let's rank the best 50 players so far. Arsenal dominate the list -- but who else?
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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It has Wirtz in 14th place
 
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