Nordic Ghost Yeti (Scandi Carroll) | Haaland at City

It would be hilarious if he flopped badly, but I think he will be fine. Man City create so many chances even a donkey will score loads upfront, as long as he doesn't disturb the team dynamic and play style so much
I think he’ll be “fine” as he’ll get plenty. I’m just intrigued as to whether City suffer as a team. On another day, Haaland gets a hat trick today with the 3 big chances he had.
 
I still think he's not really suited to a possession based football.
He will score goals for City because he's a very good finisher, but I feel like we will see the best from him when inevitably Real come calling in two years time.
 
I have always felt this about Pep's team. He pays lot of money to buy specific "type" of players who may not be world beaters in their positions but fit Pep's system like a glove. Players who are nifty footballers, with quick feet, technically sound, with very good game sense and intelligence. Only these players stand-out in Pep's team. The pinnacle of it is Messi. The other players include, Xavi, KDB, David Silva, Busquets, Gundogan, Mahrez etc.. Pep's system is the perfect platform for these players and their 'specific' skill set.

These players need not necessarily be better in their individual roles as much as they suit Pep's system. Like Gerard Pique, Pedro, Valdes for example, average players who looked world beaters in Pep's system. It also the same reason why other players don't look as good as they should when playing for Pep. Sterling, Sane, Jesus, even Aguero to some extent are players who are good at playing the game directly. Take the man, beat the man and go to goal kinda players who underperformed under Pep. Players with other skill sets like Ibra, R10, , etc., absolutely didn't fit well in Pep's system. Aguero, Eto, Henry, had to sacrifice their brilliance to be a slave to Pep's successful system. Henry was a lesser player under Pep, Aguero was a lesser player under Pep. Same with players like Bernardo Silva, Yaya Toure, Kompany etc. These players are/were not operating at their max under Pep. They were not his "kinda" player.

Unfortunately for City the early signs show that Halaand doesn't fit into Pep's system as well. Swap Halaand into a direct team like Liverpool, he will be an absolute beast. But for City, he will always play 2nd fiddle to Pep's genius revolutionary system and will never show his full potential. It's good for City, but definitely not so good for Halaand and football in general I think because you will see more of Halaand doing sideways passes in front of goals. This is also I think the reason why City players are always underrated when it comes to end of year player gongs, because most of Pep's players never reach their potential best, instead its the system that truly beats the other 19 teams. The much hyped up Ruben Dias am most certain will not be as good in many other teams. Same can be said of some of the other City players like Ake, Stones etc. But these players will look world beaters in Pep's system.

If you play for City under Pep, you are set for more money and more titles and as silly as it may sound, we may never get to see the true potential of some of these players (Like Jesus now for Arsenal) because Pep's system will swallow you in the name of success! Poor Haaland! (or is it?)
 
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I have always felt this about Pep's team. He pays lot of money to buy specific "type" of players who may not be world beaters in their positions but fit Pep's system like a glove. Players who are nifty footballers, with quick feet, technically sound, with very good game sense and intelligence. Only these players stand-out in Pep's team. The pinnacle of it is Messi. The other players include, Xavi, KDB, David Silva, Busquets, Gundogan, Mahrez etc.. Pep's system is the perfect platform for these players and their 'specific' skill set.

These players need not necessarily be better in their individual roles as much as they suit Pep's system. Like Gerard Pique, Pedro, Valdes for example, average players who looked a world beater in Pep's system. It also the same reason why other players don't look as good as they should when playing for Pep. Sterling, Sane, Jesus, even Aguero to some extent are players who are good at playing the game directly. Take the man, beat the man and go to goal kinda players underperformed under Pep. Players with other skill sets like Ibra, R10, , etc., absolutely didnt fit well in Pep's system. Players like Aguero, Eto, Henry, had to sacrifice their brilliance to be a slave to Pep's successful system. Henry was a lesser player under Pep, Aguero was a lesser player under Pep. Same with players like Bernardo Silva, Yaya Toure, Kompany etc. These players are/were not operating at their max under Pep. They were not his "kinda" player.

Unfortunately for City the early signs show that Halaand doesn't fit into Pep's system as well. Swap Halaand into a direct team like Liverpool, he will be an absolute beast. But for City, he will always play 2nd fiddle to Pep's genius revolutionary system and will never show his full potential. It's good for City, but definitely not so good for Halaand and football in general I think because you will see more of Halaand doing sideways passes in front of goals. This is also I think the reason why City players are always underrated when it comes to end of year player gong's, because most of Pep's players never reach their potential best, instead its the system that truly beats the other 19 teams. The much hyped up Ruben Dias am most certain will not be as good in many other teams. Same can be said of some of the other City players like Ake, Stones etc. But these players will look world beaters in Pep's system.

If you play for City under Pep, you are set for more money and more titles and as silly as it may sound, we may never get to see the true potential of some of these players (Like Jesus now for Arsenal) because Pep's system will swallow you in the name of success! Poor Haaland! (or is it?)

Well this is why some people like me believe that Messi is not the goat - he just fit the Barcelona possesion system where even under Valderverde the least possesion was 46% and they were crying about it.

Anyway, only mentionEd it because you did something about systems or direct play.
 
I think he’ll be “fine” as he’ll get plenty. I’m just intrigued as to whether City suffer as a team. On another day, Haaland gets a hat trick today with the 3 big chances he had.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I was getting at with regards to play style. As he is still very young, I think he is still amenable and will be taught to adapt his game to the way City play. On the other hand, if there's a personality clash with Pep, things could get interesting.
 
Last season like previous seasons, city have always spread their goals out. They’ve never had one prolific player since Aguero. But that’s part of my point in that I feel playing Haaland will reduce the spread of their goals. City have been playing a false 9 system last couple of years which naturally brings other players into dangerous situations due to the way they build up the attacks.

City’s prem scorers last season with games played and goals scored.

With Haaland, I don’t see KDB, Mahrez, foden and Grealish getting as many but Haaland getting 20+. Similar to how I feel when martial plays he’ll allow the likes of Rashford, Sancho and Bruno to all get at least 5 goals extra each rather than all the goals focused through Ronaldo.



It's hilarious you just said Martial allows others to get goals
 
What's shocking is how absent this guy is in the build up phase of the game. He never gets involved at all. For a big and strong man, he's so weak in the air. Such a boring player.
 
Someone saying Pep worked with Lewandowski, so Haaland will be similar. Except for both being tall and strikers, they have nothing in common. Pep will have much more work to do with Haaland and thinking of how to accommodate him. Alvarez is the more natural player for Pep to work with, but has a much smaller name, lower price tag and expectations.
 
He will have to adjust "fast". 1 season for him to adjust ?
It depends how fast his teammate understand his run, his off the ball movement. It will take some time. The quality is there. He just joined a new team, most players take half a season to bed in.
 
Someone saying Pep worked with Lewandowski, so Haaland will be similar. Except for both being tall and strikers, they have nothing in common. Pep will have much more work to do with Haaland and thinking of how to accommodate him. Alvarez is the more natural player for Pep to work with, but has a much lower name, price tag and expectations.
Even Lewadowski is struggling to score for Barcelona right now in pre-season.
 
Even Lewadowski is struggling to score for Barcelona right now in pre-season.

That has nothing to do with my statement of him being better suited to Pep than Haaland. He will score goals, but the question is are City a better team with him than last season?
 
City players are so used to play with a false 9. It will take them sometime to adjust to a no 9. Haaland himself is not used to pressing either.
 
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Well this is why some people like me believe that Messi is not the goat - he just fit the Barcelona possesion system where even under Valderverde the least possesion was 46% and they were crying about it.

Anyway, only mentionEd it because you did something about systems or direct play.

To be a goat is to able to fit all sorts of system ???
 
Anyone have passes completed stats for him from today’s game? I think I counted, maybe, one?
Does anyone know the answer to this question? Google is letting me down.
Completed 7 of 9 attempted passes. 16 touches in 97 minutes. But at least he was anonymous in his work out of possession.

Know it is early days and all, but a genuine shocker of a performance.
 
Completed 7 of 9 attempted passes. 16 touches in 97 minutes. But at least he was anonymous in his work out of possession.

Know it is early days and all, but a genuine shocker of a performance.

I don't think he'll rack up passes or touches the way Jesus used to because he'll play as an out and out number 9 rather than as a false 9. But he could be effective in other ways. He made several runs yesterday that weren't picked up by KDB (I imagine that it will take a bit to get on the same wavelengths) and I can only see him scoring more as time goes on.

He'll score more than his predecessors. The question is whether City as a team will be better offensively going this route.
 
I don't think he'll rack up passes or touches the way Jesus used to because he'll play as an out and out number 9 rather than as a false 9. But he could be effective in other ways. He made several runs yesterday that weren't picked up by KDB (I imagine that it will take a bit to get on the same wavelengths) and I can only see him scoring more as time goes on.

He'll score more than his predecessors. The question is whether City as a team will be better offensively going this route.
Regardless of the type of work, he needs to go through a lot more good work in a game than he did yesterday to be a succes here.
 
Regardless of the type of work, he needs to go through a lot more good work in a game than he did yesterday to be a succes here.

Of course. But not everyone has an auspicious debut I'm not sure it's indicative of how he'll fair.

Núñez looks great as well, despite some of the finishing. Both of these are great players, and some of the posts with people jumping to conclude how each will do over the course of a season from watching them in a match wasn't sensible.
 
So far my favourite appellations I've seen are

Hahahahaaland

And

Scandi Carroll
 
It would be hilarious if he flopped badly, but I think he will be fine. Man City create so many chances even a donkey will score loads upfront, as long as he doesn't disturb the team dynamic and play style so much

Yesterday being a case in point given he racked up 1.6 xG against the best defence City will face in the league.

Even while playing like shit he could have easily stumbled his way into a brace. And that's with just a 40 minute pre-season at his new club.
 
I think people see him too negatively, because his father ended Roy Keane's career.
 
Well he's not the right fit this Pep's side, that was always the case and obvious. He'll adjust probably and come good there, but if he doesn't make the instant impact it seems disingenuous to pretend its a surprise. He doesn't have the overall game to seamlessly click with the way City play.
 
Even Lewadowski is struggling to score for Barcelona right now in pre-season.

He's still playing well. His all round game is fantastic. Goals will come once he plays the full 90 minutes. He already has chemistry with Barca attackers and midfielders. Don't forget he just arrived and started training a week or so back. Not even properly match fit yet.
 
Regardless of the type of work, he needs to go through a lot more good work in a game than he did yesterday to be a succes here.

Not sure if anyone has transitioned from the German game to the English game and retained the same goal/assist levels. Almost everyone who has moved over had their goals per game cut by two thirds.
 
The guy is going to outscore everyone. That’s a sad fact because his with them and not us. One particularly bad game from City will not change that.

That said, they will have problems days KdB are not "working".
 
Im sure he will score goals. But whether he makes City better I’m not too sure.
 
If he stays injury free, I can't see him scoring less than 30 in all competitions, and I would bet he probably gets 40.
 
Enjoy the banter while it lasts lads.

On another day he has a hat trick by finishing the 3 easiest chances he had.

His finishing has been proven already. The fact he got into those positions to miss them is a good sign for City going forward.