Erling Haaland

[01cravend]

There are many ways to compare, there is no one who has watched Ibra consistently that would say he is good at headers - not sure I have seen a worse big man at headers than Zlatan. His percentage may be better but I guarantee the sample size skews the picture.

Any sample you pick favours Ibra, competes for more and wins more.. Also don't need to look further than Haaland for a big man worse in the air. Or Seferovic if you want to look closer to home.

 

[Maly]

There's nothing to be gained in comparing his two clients so I don't see the business angle there. Pizza boy is probably speaking as much to their mental similarities as well

Ibra is the most skilled big man I have seen to play the game so obviously Haaland is far from that stature but they share more than size & representation similarities. Erling is two footed as well and is not a player that excels due to his pace. He's also a far better header than Zlatan has ever been.

Ibrahimovic is just the player I see that is most similar to Haaland, not suggesting they are the same and certainly far more similar than Shearer or Vardy

Guess you never saw big Kev Francis play for County?

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

You wouldn't ever hear me praising someone like Raiola but you cannot argue that few know the two players (Ibra & Haaland) better than their agent

And no, there is no similarity between Erling and Hardy or Shearer in my opinion - of course, goals are the measuring stick but the topic was about who the player compares favorably to. I see Haaland as skilled but a box poacher, clinical but not a player that scores from anywhere like say Shearer

Knowing how to put digits on a deal is a far cry from being tactically aware, he doesn’t have a scooby...

Vardy we’ll agree on, however Shearer?? It kind of makes me judge how much you saw him play in his early years!

 

[FCBarca]

Guess you never saw big Kev Francis play for County?

I have not

Ibra genuinely surprised me at how skilled he was even if he ultimately failed to adapt at Barça- he’s incredible but strangely shite at heading

 

[FCBarca]

Knowing how to put digits on a deal is a far cry from being tactically aware, he doesn’t have a scooby...

Vardy we’ll agree on, however Shearer?? It kind of makes me judge how much you saw him play in his early years!

It’s true I didn’t see his early years but late in his career he was a goal scoring beast - just couldn’t let him shoot

Not too many goal scorers like him anymore

 

[augpet]

There are many ways to compare, there is no one who has watched Ibra consistently that would say he is good at headers - not sure I have seen a worse big man at headers than Zlatan. His percentage may be better but I guarantee the sample size skews the picture

Shearer was not a box poacher and neither was Ibra but I was simply referring to a player that most favorably compares to Haaland as no two players are identical. What cannot be argued however is that there is little that Shearer or Vardy share with Erling apart from scoring goals

Im a swede who has watched big nose play professional football for probably 15 years, he is in no department "bad" at headers. You cant compare him to any big man who only playes for his heading ability, he is a far more complete footballer. I understand your description of Zlatan as a big man. However, it is misleading to say the least.

 

[FCBarca]

Im a swede who has watched big nose play professional football for probably 15 years, he is in no department "bad" at headers. You cant compare him to any big man who only playes for his heading ability, he is a far more complete footballer. I understand your description of Zlatan as a big man. However, it is misleading to say the least.

Bad in that he is poor at going for headers, not technique wise - he simply avoids them. He'd rather attempt an audacious overhead or kung fu connection. I have seen him countless times miss goals with an easy header to try a higher degree of difficulty attempt with his legs

 

[augpet]

Bad in that he is poor at going for headers, not technique wise - he simply avoids them. He'd rather attempt an audacious overhead or kung fu connection

Haaland has 3 headers in 45 career goals, barely 7 %

Zlatan has 51 headers in 409 career goals, 12.5 %

For comparison, C. Ronaldo (a player who doesnt attempt audacious overheads...) has 110 headers in 705 career goals, 15.5 %

Yet somehow Zlatan is both bad at heading and worse than Haaland. I agree that 45 goals for Haaland is a bit to few goals to measure, but come on. You are clearly talking out of ur arse

 

[FCBarca]

At 6'5" I hope Zlatan can get some headers in but those stats simply reflect the proportion, says nothing about how good he is at headers. I have seen him miss many because he is not a player that looks to head the ball much, especially for his size

Compare Ibra to strikers his size and see where he rates in terms of heading accuracy, he's down on that list. The fact that smaller forwards like CR are much better says quite a bit as well

 

[yerwot?]

so many caveats, too many for any meaningful conclusions, unless an accurate list of how many headers are missed . "A big man up front" seems to be an option to a fair few on here, when we are frustrated by teams packing the penalty area, but even the biggest wont get higher than a keeper with his arms up-stretched. Tim Cahill was only average height yet was one of the best headers of a ball, peter Crouch was tall but was heavily marked, so "big" is not the be all and end all,imo. It's why i would welcome Messi, and City to stop floating balls into the area and play it into the area on the ground.