Are City a better all round team without Haaland?

Blue Maverick said:
Been saying all season that’s the ball that hurts defences, run in from the wing onto a ball in between fullback and centre half, then get to the byline pull back or cross in. There were loads of runs totally ignored due to the fear of losing possession, it’s so predictable now, you can only play a system so long before everyone susses it out, if us idiots can see sure as shit professional coaches can. The issues we have against lesser teams is breaking down 11 in the box, against more expansive teams is the unwillingness to take a chance in a run, fucked if I know what’s going to happen but if we win fuck all this season it wouldn’t surprise me, but then again if we win 3 trophies that wouldn’t either.
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Yeah exactly. Against Everton, Foden came on and ran at Iwobi and we started to have some half chances. Against Chelsea, Jack came on and went at Azpilicueta. The one time Foden did, he turned him and got a free kick. Those passing triangles are fine, but it relies on a sudden burst of movement and a ball into space at some point. We're just not looking to do that. It's all pass-pass-pass and then it's back to Rodri and we try the other side. Our improvement in the second half on Saturday came from Mahrez facing up Malacia, De Bruyne could then face their goal and Walker was an option on the overlap. It tied them in knots. The other side, Foden would have been more effective if Cancelo didn't seem to think he was the winger and always look to be creator. Maybe it's an issue born out of constant changes. Grealish wants it to feet every time. Foden is more likely to move in behind.
 
Are we better off without Haaland - the (or one of the) world's best footballers right now? - absolutely not! We simply need to adjust our tactics to best utilize Haaland - and Pep is doing so.

IMO our downturn in form is not at all due to Haaland - it's rather due to the lack of ambition and drive in the rest of the squad. Our press hasn't been good enough when we lose the ball; our passing has been sloppy with needless giveaways. And we've been unable to pass to Haaland on numerous occasions when he makes excellent runs.
 
Think the biggest decision do we play to Hallands strengths or continue a possession based game where we compress the 18yard box. On many occasions on Saturday Hallend made runs but the through ball or the ball over the top wasn't played. If we compress the 18 yard box the space isn't there for him to run through. Do we play deeper? It's a big decision.
 
Damanino said:
our workrate is very bad this season. watch Haaland, KDB, Mahrez, Grealish, Foden, Bernardo off the ball. are they all press like mad /track back to help to get the ball back?
not at all in most games.

no urgency in our attacks and neither aggressive enough off the ball.

we should win the ball back high up the pitch a lot and use those as quick counter attacks. but apart from Alvarez none has the appetite and or energy levels/fitness for good pressing.

so we end up playing this slower, controlling football, better not to take extra risks and lose the ball if aint gonna fight hard to win it back. this comes at a price of parked buses with very small spaces to exploit if any.
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Not sure we have players that are physicaly capable of that anymore.
 
brewboy said:
Think the biggest decision do we play to Hallands strengths or continue a possession based game where we compress the 18yard box. On many occasions on Saturday Hallend made runs but the through ball or the ball over the top wasn't played. If we compress the 18 yard box the space isn't there for him to run through. Do we play deeper? It's a big decision.
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Not sure we have players to play any other way. Gone are the days of fast explosive wingers getting behind defenses. We may have better luck playing more direct ie hoof it up to the big man but we all know that’s never going to happen.
 
I think the best performance I saw this season was against Chelsea last week, and that was without Haaland & Kevin.
 
supercity88 said:
Yeah exactly. Against Everton, Foden came on and ran at Iwobi and we started to have some half chances. Against Chelsea, Jack came on and went at Azpilicueta. The one time Foden did, he turned him and got a free kick. Those passing triangles are fine, but it relies on a sudden burst of movement and a ball into space at some point. We're just not looking to do that. It's all pass-pass-pass and then it's back to Rodri and we try the other side. Our improvement in the second half on Saturday came from Mahrez facing up Malacia, De Bruyne could then face their goal and Walker was an option on the overlap. It tied them in knots. The other side, Foden would have been more effective if Cancelo didn't seem to think he was the winger and always look to be creator. Maybe it's an issue born out of constant changes. Grealish wants it to feet every time. Foden is more likely to move in behind.
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Agree with pretty much all you’re saying. The one player who could get in behind out of our wingers is Foden and he’s barely been showing any aggression with the ball (barring them few minutes against Everton) for months.
 
Tevez City said:
I think the best performance I saw this season was against Chelsea last week, and that was without Haaland & Kevin.
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I’d say the utd game at was but take your point we were very good. With Chelsea’s results though you have to factor in how bad they were. Yes you could say Alvarez presses better than Haaland but i think the bigger reason was we weren’t completely reliant on KDB to create and for weeks he’s been the only way we look to create. When he’s playing badly the whole team is off it.
 
Tevez City said:
I think the best performance I saw this season was against Chelsea last week, and that was without Haaland & Kevin.
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A bit of both, to be fair Chelsea were terrible, we played ok against the rags, especially second half but still no where near our true level.
 
Keeper! said:
A bit of both, to be fair Chelsea were terrible, we played ok against the rags, especially second half but still no where near our true level.
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I know it's all about 'would'ves and could'ves' but Pep would've thought we had utd where we wanted them on 80 minutes.
1-0 up in a tight game, knowing they would have to take chances would have given space for De Bruyne and Haaland to exploit in the last 10 -15 mins.
Had the officials done their job and we'd been given that opportunity, people would have been talking about us showing great patience against a top three side and putting them away in clinical style.
 
Pubteam Lomas said:
I know it's all about 'would'ves and could'ves' but Pep would've thought we had utd where we wanted them on 80 minutes.
1-0 up in a tight game, knowing they would have to take chances would have given space for De Bruyne and Haaland to exploit in the last 10 -15 mins.
Had the officials done their job and we'd been given that opportunity, people would have been talking about us showing great patience against a top three side and putting them away in clinical style.
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You never where you want to be at 1-0, whoever the opponent, personally at 1-0 KDB would be off the pitch and maybe even the Viking, I would have put Alvarez on for his energy and pace.
 
We are a different team.

As many years and games as it took for us to reach our highest level in recent years it may take again with this adjustment. I would be more confident now in a final with Haaland in the team than without.

We may see this summer signings that help the team in a different way with him being upfront for us.

He is incredible.
 
bell_mcfc said:
We are a different team.

As many years and games as it took for us to reach our highest level in recent years it may take again with this adjustment. I would be more confident now in a final with Haaland in the team than without.

We may see this summer signings that help the team in a different way with him being upfront for us.

He is incredible.
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I don't believe it will take long to find the adjustment.

I truly think it's a mindset issue. The rest of the team also have to have the passion and desire to score. If they play to the same standards as last season, moving into space where they can score, Haaland will have more chances himself but the team will score more goals and that's what it is about. It feels like we're either trying to find him at all costs, or purposely doing the opposite. Then the last 10 minutes becomes a desperate barrage of balls into the box to find him, when the defence is packed and it's much harder. Balance is needed.

Looking at the number of goals scored across our squad last season, we need the rest of the team to really step up. Alvarez currently has 8 goals in all competitions and Haaland has 27. But when you look at the numbers last season and compare to this, the majority are way off their previous tally. To keep the opposition guessing we need that mindset of every player wanting to score. If we do that, we'll soon see less of a struggle in front of goal and naturally I believe the majority of chances will still fall to Haaland. Only Foden is looking like improving on last season. If you double the current tally, based on it being nearly halfway through the season it's telling. The opposition will let us have the ball all day long, knowing it's Haaland we'll look for. The attacking players need to exploit that and play with the mentality "mark him out the game and I'll get into the space and score instead". I don't expect them all to score as frequently, because Haaland will always do the majority of that, but I'd still expect to see a better return. I'm sure someone with better stat knowledge may be able to find data on how often the players are in positions to score or shooting, but I'd bet that's declined significantly from last season for most and is part of the issue.

PlayerGoals ScoredLeague Goals2022/23 current goals
Mahrez24118
De Bruyne19153
Sterling1713N/A
Foden1499
Jesus138N/A
Bernardo1382
Gundogan1082
Rodri771
Grealish632
 
I know one thing, I would like to see Alvarez play more. If he's good enough to be in a World Cup-winning XI he's good enough for City. He could be the foil Haaland needs, or he could be plan B, with Haaland off the field. Anyway, we need to change somehow. No doubt Pep and his staff are working on it. They must be able to see what we can see.
 
I honestly thought Haaland was one of our best players at the weekend. He dropped deep to lay the ball off and his control and passing was pretty good actually. He’s always making moves off the ball. We’re in bad form so it looks like the games are passing him by but it will change. He’s essential in my opinion.
 
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