Nordic Ghost Yeti (Scandi Carroll) | Haaland at City

I still rate him but there's no denying that he has limitations.
Still, I think if you put him in Chelsea's, Liverpool', Arsenal's and even Tottenhams squad he'll be scoring at a higher rate.
City's creative play from thier midfield and wide area's is eye openingly mediocre.
 
fps said:
Should have kept Alvarez, even if it meant selling Haaland, the spine of this team is becoming less mobile so a more mobile forward would really help them.
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Nah. Alvarez is a decent player but not all that brilliant at anything. Wanted to leave and they got great money for him. They fecked up badly not replacing him, City's squad does miss a more mobile dynamic forward to rotate with/play alongside Haaland. It's scary that Haaland plays 90 minutes every game often twice a week. Wonder if it will take its toll at some point.
 
he's actually unbelievably bad without perfect providers. I always knew he wasn't Romario, but hoooooooly shit.

no way I'd take him before Aguero and settle for this every time I don't have perfect wingers and prime KDB.

he isn't even missing the chances, he literally doesn't exist on the pitch.
 
He’s not even a polished striker, he’s still raw in many departments but has gotten by with perfect service and smashing the ball into the back of the net from 8 yards.
 
Bole Top said:
he's actually unbelievably bad without perfect providers. I always knew he wasn't Romario, but hoooooooly shit.

no way I'd take him before Aguero and settle for this every time I don't have perfect wingers and prime KDB.

he isn't even missing the chances, he literally doesn't exist on the pitch.
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Aguero is the far superior player. Can't compare them. Aguero could make things happen without the need for service. Annoying in that respect.
 
ValenciasDrilledCrosses said:
Nah. Alvarez is a decent player but not all that brilliant at anything. Wanted to leave and they got great money for him. They fecked up badly not replacing him, City's squad does miss a more mobile dynamic forward to rotate with/play alongside Haaland. It's scary that Haaland plays 90 minutes every game often twice a week. Wonder if it will take its toll at some point.
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It’s an example of football being so relentless that certain players aren’t going to be able to perform. 100% agree they need someone else he is really struggling and if he’s not scoring he’s not doing much else.
 
KjaAnd said:
No idea what happened to him. He looked like a menace last season. This year, he’s completely invisible. I know he’s limited technically but with his physical tools and the team around him, you would think expect him to continue his dominance.
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How does a player dominate with 10 touches per game?

He was never dominant. He just got more chances to finish last year. Without silver platter service he's literally a nothing player, since his whole game is built on actually avoiding participating in any kind of play that isn't getting on the end of chances.
 
Those who watched him at Dortmund - is this city team to blame? He never gets a chance to use his pace or ability to get behind in this team, he's basically a really boring poacher nowadays.
 
Aint gota Kalou said:
Those who watched him at Dortmund - is this city team to blame? He never gets a chance to use his pace or ability to get behind in this team, he's basically a really boring poacher nowadays.
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That's definitely a factor. He was much more involved in the general play in Dortmund. Never was or will be a great playmaker, but there is no reason obvious why he should be as little involved as he currently is. Feels weird, looks weird, blame Pep.
 
stefan92 said:
That's definitely a factor. He was much more involved in the general play in Dortmund. Never was or will be a great playmaker, but there is no reason obvious why he should be as little involved as he currently is. Feels weird, looks weird, blame Pep.
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Harsh to blame Pep for his face.
 
Even with a terrible season he is still tied on league goals with Salah who's having a Balon D'Or like season so far.
 
City's goals and style of play have got so concentrated around Haaland. Except Foden & his edge of box shooting, it appears as if no one else even wants to try an attempt at goal fearing the prospect of being reprimanded for not supplying to Haaland who has a better conversion chance.
 
3 goals in 9 premier league games since the start of October.
 
ValenciasDrilledCrosses said:
Nah. Alvarez is a decent player but not all that brilliant at anything. Wanted to leave and they got great money for him. They fecked up badly not replacing him, City's squad does miss a more mobile dynamic forward to rotate with/play alongside Haaland. It's scary that Haaland plays 90 minutes every game often twice a week. Wonder if it will take its toll at some point.
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I agree that it's not just Alvarez the issue, yet Julian it's quite more than just decent, even without being Aguero/Tevez alike. Yet indeed he is a player that at some point managers have to stop asking him everything (and him getting a bit confuse with it) so maybe he would become a better goalscorer, even in the sellfish and demanding department, too much of a nice guy. Leaving his lack of great dribbling aside and a bit more pace, I think he needs to be more arrogant in a good way, more focus in just one role, there are matches that even him being the striker, he plays most of the time way far from the rival's net and the little area.

Regarding Alvarez and City, what he would provide always, no matter the state of the team (or even his best form), it's a mean shot (includes daring to at least try), a tendency to combine and bring others to play and excellent pressing, things that clearly yesterday they lacked, with or without Erling.
 
stefan92 said:
That's definitely a factor. He was much more involved in the general play in Dortmund. Never was or will be a great playmaker, but there is no reason obvious why he should be as little involved as he currently is. Feels weird, looks weird, blame Pep.
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He took 33 touches per 90m in dortmund. 22/90 this season.

An enormous 33% of his touches are inside the box though. Before he arrived, the highest percentage of touches inside the box at city for any player was 5%.

It's honestly just so weird that someone like Guardiola, who demands goalkeepers with midfield level of ability on the ball and more than anyone has championed the philosophy that a modern team needs 11 players to play ball and not 10+1, not only went and bought a player like Haaland, but actively developed a 10+1 style of play around him, except now you're taking a player out of the passing equation at the centre of attack.

I honestly am starting to feel that Haaland is some kind of litmus test for understanding football. People see his goal tally and think "what a player". What they don't see is that city have scored fewer goals with Haaland than any of their other seasons, bar his sub-par debut season and 20/21 where they packed it in early. Since his arrival, they've scored more goals per game without him than with him in the side. Even though they finally won the CL, he played no part in getting them further than they get every season anyway. And the eye test clearly shows their football isn't better for having him in the side. He may be stat-padding for his wikipedia profile, but their attack is no better for it than when they had Jesus working chances for Sterling.

He's a player with a clear ceiling. I think for lesser sides, his ability to get on the end of things would be a massive boost, where his pace, movement and physique can turn percentage-balls into good chances for himself in the less crowded spaces than what City play against every week. Against the teams that don't park the bus (ie. other top teams), he is not a consistent difference-maker either, as the defenders are too good to be undone by such simple means.

Would be one of the most important players in the league if he were playing for West Ham or some such. Genuinely makes no difference playing for city, except for his own stats.
 
Would be the best striker on the planet at enough top club, unfortunately now he's only the best striker on the planet if City play well.
 
B20 said:
Since his arrival, they've scored more goals per game without him than with him in the side. Even though they finally won the CL, he played no part in getting them further than they get every season anyway. And the eye test clearly shows their football isn't better for having him in the side.
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I see this a bit different. When City finally won the CL they were a much more physical team than in the years before. Focusing on Haaland allowed Pep to field fewer players that are strong in attack and finally gave them the edge in real battles. They didn't look better ballers, but they just looked stronger in a way (hope that makes sense how I phrase this).

It looks a bit as if Pep's idea is using Haaland to pin down the defence so that the rest of the team has more space to pass through. It's a classic concept and Haaland might be strong enough to physically pull it off even at the top level, but it just makes them so predictable that they are so easily beaten right now.
 
stefan92 said:
I see this a bit different. When City finally won the CL they were a much more physical team than in the years before. Focusing on Haaland allowed Pep to field fewer players that are strong in attack and finally gave them the edge in real battles. They didn't look better ballers, but they just looked stronger in a way (hope that makes sense how I phrase this).

It looks a bit as if Pep's idea is using Haaland to pin down the defence so that the rest of the team has more space to pass through. It's a classic concept and Haaland might be strong enough to physically pull it off even at the top level, but it just makes them so predictable that they are so easily beaten right now.
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But their problem now is that they have focused too much on the physical, they lack skilled technical players.
 
Hammondo said:
But their problem now is that they have focused too much on the physical, they lack skilled technical players.
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More than lacking, they are out of form, plain older, injured and the whole enviroment it's fvck up.
Also any team with their success at some point will fall down, them with what I've said above, fell harder than many.
 
Fobal said:
More than lacking, they are out of form, plain older, injured and the whole enviroment it's fvck up.
Also any team with their success at some point will fall down, them with what I've said above, fell harder than many.
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They didn't replace players well, with doku as a good example. RM are having a similar problem, very physical but not technical enough.
 
Hammondo said:
They didn't replace players well, with doku as a good example. RM are having a similar problem, very physical but not technical enough.
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I'm reading lately a lot the lack of technique thing. And actually? I don't think it's that the case in the majority of cases.

There are a lot of technical players in both sides (in Man Utd too), specially in Madrid, what it's lacking in many teams, its to the very least, more clever or even better, intelligent players.
In many teams the ones that hit that profile, are getting/or are plain older/old (Luka/Kevin).
Also no clever, or even beyond, plain intelligent player, can save a team that does not know what to do, or have in bad form many of its players or the idea of the coach it's not well implemented.

Regarding players, to lack some technical atribute, doesn't make a player a donkey, as much just not that complete, for lack of better word.
 
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If he signed for us instead of Dortmund, this is what we would’ve got for the last 3 years. We’d be talking of replacing him for the last 4 windows at least
 
Fobal said:
I'm reading lately a lot the lack of technique thing. And actually? I don't think it's that the case in the majority of cases.

There are a lot of technical players in both sides (in Man Utd too), specially in Madrid, what it's lacking in many teams, its to the very least, more clever or even better, intelligent players.
In many teams the ones that hit that profile, are getting/or are plain older/old (Luka/Kevin).
Also no clever, or even beyond, plain intelligent player, can save a team that does not know what to do, or have in bad form many of its players or the idea of the coach it's not well implemented.

Regarding players, to lack some technical atribute, doesn't make a player a donkey, as much just not that complete, for lack of better word.
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It’s the Pep effect. Players are being overcoached and are taught to follow instructions to the dot that they don’t know how to think for themselves on the field.
 
elmo said:
It’s the Pep effect. Players are being overcoached and are taught to follow instructions to the dot that they don’t know how to think for themselves on the field.
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Don't think you can say it this way when Madrid under Ancelotti is one club that always encourages it's players to find solutions on their own. But there still is a comparison to make: Both City and Madrid suddenly lack a player they can rely on for organisation. Rodri due to injury, Kroos due to retirement. Doesn't matter how strict players need to follow a plan, when there suddenly is no one left who they can rely on to receive the ball in any situation and make the right choice how to proceed these teams do have big issues.
 
matsdf said:
Even with a terrible season he is still tied on league goals with Salah who's having a Balon D'Or like season so far.
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He's living off 2 hat tricks back in August against West Ham and Ispwich and a brace against Brentford in Sept. He has 3 goals in the league since the start of October
 
The same pundits who criticize Hojlund for not scoring goals even though he got no service under ETH will defend Haaland on the basis he is not getting any service.
 
Tallis said:
The same pundits who criticize Hojlund for not scoring goals even though he got no service under ETH will defend Haaland on the basis he is not getting any service.
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Having a record goal tally for his first couple of years in the Prem probably doesn't hurt his reputation...
 
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