Are City a better all round team without Haaland?

The proof is in the pudding and yesterday's pudding was very tasty. Alvarez, Foden, Bernardo, Palmer, Gomez, even Mahrez when he is not playing forward with Haaland and Grealsih, they were like banshees all over Chelsea. I was particularly impressed by Gomez, only when he was subbed Chelsea managed to hit us with two long balls on our left side. because Cancelo stayed isolated further forward towards middle.
 
Cambijao said:
Take off your nostalgia glasses. Nobody has disrespected Aguero, he was one of the best strikers in the world years. It's just that Haaland is on a completely different level.
Click to expand...
When he’s won as much as Aguero or more then we can have that comparison, Aguero made his own goals, I’ve yet to see Haaland do this for us, he gets on the end of things and is brilliant at it, but I’ve yet to see him hit one on from 25 yards.
 
Cambijao said:
Take off your nostalgia glasses. Nobody has disrespected Aguero, he was one of the best strikers in the world years. It's just that Haaland is on a completely different level.
Click to expand...
You aren’t even a City fan but one of the new breed of weirdos who follows a player rather than a club. So quite frankly, you reap what you sow coming on here and telling us about our club’s history
 
I'd expect the whole team to start improving now, and the signs are there. The whole squad is back and fighting to start. World Cup is done, it's crunch time. Having Alvarez back is huge, because what he does differently is drop into midfield to pick up the ball and that creates space for others to move into those areas. That's something we did a lot in the past couple of seasons. The Palmer chance (that he should have passed with) came from that sort of scenario (and some awful defending). But we can manipulate the opposition when we have players moving positions so freely. We need to get better at doing that with Haaland. Some of that is down to him dropping in, and not being a "static" central striker. Some of that is down to us looking for him earlier, and not being so predictable. A lot of our play seems to be down to getting De Bruyne a half yard to swing a cross in. It works a lot of the time, but it can't be our only "answer". I'd expect us to step up and Pep to have us singing - as I said the signs are there considering the changes made for, and during the Chelsea game on Thursday and then the one yesterday.

Beat Southampton and United and I reckon we'll be a win off top spot, into the league cup semi's with the 4th round of the FA Cup sealed and a winnable CL last 16 tie. Not fucking bad at all for a team adapting again. Then the carrot is dangled for the players and we'll see that ruthless winning mentality come out again I'm sure. Who wants to win it for the third time in a row and make history? Who wants to win a league cup? Plenty haven't in our squad now. The CL - you all want it, go and get it.
 
jrb said:
The team are more fluid without Haaland. Like we used to be with a false 9.

Managers and teams have worked Haaland out a bit, bar those moments of pure striker instinct that he will always have. 2 centre halfs doubling up on Haaland. And when Kev get’s the ball on the right to cross over to Haaland, teams are doubling up on Kev to stop those crosses that have led to so many goals for Haaland at the start of the season.

Pep needs to tweak his Haaland tactics a bit, just to mix up his movement and the teams movement around him.

But Haaland will always be one of the first names on the team sheet.
Click to expand...
As should Alvarez in my opinion, he just has to find room for him in this side, otherwise we will have another Gabby Jesus on the books.
 
I don’t think so. We’re just a much better side in that shape/system, which allows us to play much more fluently. Hopefully stick with it now for the rest of the season.
What’s great is seeing how good we can be if Haaland is out/needs resting.
 
Yes. Until we don't win without him, then no. Then if we dont win with him again, yes. Then no again.
 
SamBlue said:
The proof is in the pudding and yesterday's pudding was very tasty. Alvarez, Foden, Bernardo, Palmer, Gomez, even Mahrez when he is not playing forward with Haaland and Grealsih, they were like banshees all over Chelsea. I was particularly impressed by Gomez, only when he was subbed Chelsea managed to hit us with two long balls on our left side. because Cancelo stayed isolated further forward towards middle.
Click to expand...

I would be interested to see the same side with Haaland in for Mahrez (and Alvarez on the wing), but I imagine his form over the last 4 days has probably ruled that out for the forseeable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.