Are City a better all round team without Haaland?

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.
Click to expand...

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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