In comparison to other big games where he was totally invisible, I thought he made himself a real nuisance yesterday.
Nordic Ghost Yeti (Scandi Carroll) | Haaland at City
- Thread starter Samid
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I think he’s always been a tad overrated and he’s not really my cup of tea stylistically as a player. However, City really do bring out his limitations and showcase them. Yes they provide him plenty of chances across a season and that will always ensure he scores a good number of goals for them, but in a more open, fast paced team Haaland would thrive. Put him in this Liverpool side and he would be twice as entertaining. Direct balls played in behind, early crosses played to him. I think he would be recognised as a much better player in that kind of side even though I expect he might not score at quite the same rate.
They played to his strenghts last season. This season the team has never been settled between injuries and underperformances, I get the feeling they lost a bit of confidence in him too. You have Haaland in the box, try a cross sometime...
Mind you, his presence still locks down CBs and opens up space for everyone else. City were dangerous and created enough to win yesterday, and they were significantly more threatening with him on the pitch
Every other post on Bluemoon right now
I’ve been laughing at this one for a while
I have to disagree re last season. As you rightly said they don’t really put crosses in the box, don’t feed him through balls, don’t allow him to drift wide which he liked to do at Dortmund.
They’re basically just asking him to stay in the box, occupy CBs and sometimes he’ll have shooting opportunities. Which is exactly what Peps teams require as a collective, but it’s frustrating when you know Haaland can be used in a more lethal way
It was always a stupid move if the priority was to become the best version of himself. He would’ve been much better off opting to join a team like Madrid if he wanted to develop his game to its fullest.
But I guess when your father, yourself and your agent are offered an absolute King ransom in off the books payments, it’s pretty hard to turn down so don’t blame him.
@adexkola you're going to need to start a Bluemoon account to defend his honour there too.
They're nutters over there. The one time I took a peek was enough for life. What's with all the rag talk anyway, I've never heard that as an insult anywhere else
I think they're a bit saner on Reddit (City fans that is)
Back to Haaland. He and Jude had similar games over 2 games. One is getting ripped to shreds. No need to debate where logic doesn't exist (that hasn't stopped me before!)
I've never actually visited, the snippets on here do just fine.
Re Bellingham: I think he was absolutely wank both games, especially last night.
Jude got a lot of shit last night in fairness.
Never mind what I posted Haaland had his first pass of the first half in the 37th min for a total of 2 passes in that half
Haaland had his first pass of the first half in the 37th min for a total of 2 passes in that halfWe should make them a huge offer, I think he could be tempted.
Oh he did? I stand corrected then
Not sure a team who creates nothing is a good fit for a striker who does nothing but get on the end of things.
This is the point, with high scoring players you need to assign value to the goals scored because pumping in the fourth against a team that's beaten isn't as valuable as scoring winners.
Unsurprising that Kane was their top target. A lot of the Haaland signing did feel a lot like they just didn't want him going anywhere else too.
Lambasted when I said that, totally agree.
I think there was also an element of simply wanting the hottest prospect on the market to try and achieve a status as a big club, and it also plays into the narrative around his father having played there and the rivalry with United. It will be interesting to see if he lasts longer than Pep, and whether he plays their in two years.
For me it's not even the game situations he's scoring in, but the actual value he adds even to goals he scores. What is it worth to have somebody whose key skill is poking the ball into the net after one of your actual top class footballers has put it between his eyes 3 yards out?
City weren't having any trouble scoring back post tap-ins when it was Sterling/Mahrez/Jesus on the end of them, and despite those players being relatively wasteful, they scored more because they created more of those chances due to having 11 footballers on the pitch. Factor out those and penalties, and what else has he ever offered them? He's just hoovering up goals City were scoring anyway, and they're scoring less of them than they were before he got there.
Totally agree. Sterling is a great example, the plaudits he was getting were a joke, it was clear he was being boosted by tap ins and Guardiola.
To think City had to pay Halaand's dad like £20m agent fees
For some types of games this is probably true. I think Haaland suits the league more than the CL.
I'd be surprised if Pep doesn't try Alvarez more in certain game types. Haaland hasn't done enough to guarantee starting every game this season.
This isn't true
There are an insignificant amount of games where Alvarez would have done better than Haaland as a 9. His best strengths are as a supporting striker
One of these players was playing as a false 9 for a team who got dominated all match, whose midfield and defence struggled to beat the press and whose tactics were primarily to play all-out defence anyway (which they managed successfully). Despite that, he was the key player in the goal that ultimately won the match, had over 90% pass accuracy and 59 touches.
The other played upfront for a team camped in the opposition half, managed 7 passes (at 70% success rate) and only 21 touches. He looked no threat at all and City would probably have actively been better without him.
Bellingham did his job for the team last night. Haaland really struggled. I don’t think that their performances were in any way comparable.
Why are you absolving him of his role in that? Is he not a midfielder? You're excusing a midfielder and finalist for the Ballon D'Or, for letting the game pass him by, while giving a striker flack for not doing more in a match where his teammates struggled to find him.
two negatives create a positive. we’d explode with goals.
Sure...shitting on him in his own thread isn't enough I guess
Saw the extended highlights and I can't understand why people are saying he was invisible. Hit the post once with a great header, created a great chance for Grealish by holding the ball well under pressure and laying it off and then almost caused an own goal from Nacho. Can also add that his movement created space for De Bruyne on the chance he missed right after he scored, I think Rudiger was marking him and after Haaland ran into the six yard box he took Rudiger with him and there was space left behind that De Bruyne went into but missed an easy chance.
Didn't miss any guilt edge chances himself, not a great performance you can say but certainly we wasn't invisible or not having an impact on the game.
Didn't miss any guilt edge chances himself, not a great performance you can say but certainly we wasn't invisible or not having an impact on the game.
I've been very critical of him all season, but I do think they might have won that match in ET if Haaland stayed on.
That said, any shouts of him being the best player in the world were nonsensical last season and it's been invalidated entirely this season.
That said, any shouts of him being the best player in the world were nonsensical last season and it's been invalidated entirely this season.
Mate, even City fans are saying he was shite... come on.
Odd retort especially as he goes on to explain what Bellingham did do well. Also, as an eclectic player, Bellingham's framework will never be the same as Haaland's. Haaland's brief is very localised and specialised whilst Bellingham, as a central midfielder originally, can always be observed through numerous lens' per game - did he do bad in all the roles he is known for? Did he contribute in X or Y if not Z? It mightn't be what the fans want, if they're intent on boxing him into a specific role (in this case AM or SS), but it's by his very nature that he can have a good game without even entering the final third if he's being deployed as more of central midfielder or sitter. We can't say: 'bad game as an SS or AM, ergo bad performance' and Haaland really isn't afforded the same privilege unless he suddenly becomes a player whose existence doesn't solely revolve around scoring goals.
Havent there been rumours that Vini Jnr wants to leave this summer?
His positioning inside the box and finishing ability are as good as they come but he is really average in every other department.
I wouldn't go as far as calling him a League 2 player but I think he still has a lot of work to do to be a truly world-class player.
I wouldn't go as far as calling him a League 2 player but I think he still has a lot of work to do to be a truly world-class player.
Didn't almost everybody say that?
He's a brilliant striker but he will always struggle in tight games where the players around him can't create chances for him, and where he's up against defenders who make it that bit harder for him. He's an out and out goalscorer and nothing more. Dont know what else anybody expected.
If he played for us he would have trouble reaching 5 league goals.
It's not an odd retort, it's a valid point. Performance wise, he sucked over the course of 2 games, and especially in this game, being pocketed by Dias. He couldn't keep the ball, he couldn't progress it up field, he couldn't facilitate for others. Saying he ran around a lot isn't much. Haaland did stuff that is conveniently ignored, I'm just applying the same standard to others.
Yeah he wants go somewhere where they consider him a human, we should defo be all over it, I know buying from Real has been taboo lately given our experience but he doesn’t fall into that category.
I don't know if those numbers are correct, but if they are, that's what one expects of a midfielder doing what he has been asked to do. Bellingham also confirmed after the match that his primary brief was defensive, which again, he performed. You say he couldn't keep the ball, yet aren't factoring in the amount of times he was twisting and turning and taken down via foul means to prevent him from turning back out for a positive release. Those are either, or situations where we don't get to see the conclusions because of the foul whilst the player has executed the first part to facilitate the possibility of the second.
Bellinhgham's remit is broader and a lot more expansive and he was utilised in a very different manner last night. Haaland doesn't have the same claims to his name or his role; one clearly had a better game than the other because he did what was asked of him and, again, if those numbers are accurate, clearly performed his duty in terms of enabling his teammates to either keep the ball or progress the play.
*Headscratcher.