Not sure you can say that when ITV have convinced us that Darwin " the GOAT" Nunez will have reached 100 goals by Xmas.
Nordic Ghost Yeti (Scandi Carroll) | Haaland at City
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Adding goals to an attack scoring 100 odd a season already isn't easy.
Don't be surprised if they don't improve total goals much. Posted same way up the thread.
Haaland can take time to fit in to the team. Lot more pressure at City, can see them giving him time. Won't be like Ibra at Barcelona.
Don't be surprised if they don't improve total goals much. Posted same way up the thread.
Haaland can take time to fit in to the team. Lot more pressure at City, can see them giving him time. Won't be like Ibra at Barcelona.
No, he wasn't that much involved really. He had those those two good chances directly after one another late in the 1st, and then the shot in the crossbar, and not a whole lot else. I thought he did well on the first of those to get a decent shot away in a very pressured situation, and I'm sure it'll give PL defenders cause for thought the way Robertson just bounced off him when he tried to get in his way.
To be fair, he didn't get a lot of service. I thought City generally didn't have a very fluid game and looked a bit rusty and incoherent. I thought he moved well and got into good positions, but they didn't often get him the ball (although in my experience it always looks like that when you're focusing on following one player specifically). Also, City simply doesn't play the deep passes into the space behind the back four that enables the sort of runs he's best at. There was one situation where he was perfectly positioned for that and seemingly had words with de Bruyne for the pass not being made. He moves like you'd expect for a striker in that kind of system - ambling along, and then quickly bursting into speed at the right moment. He did that quite a lot yesterday, which those on this thread making comments about his lack of speed must have missed.....
Anyway, IMO yesterday's game showed two things - one, it's early season yet, and two, Haaland and City are not an automatic fit stylistically. I think he'd have made things easier for himself if he'd chosen Liverpool instead, but he has only himself to blame for that.
And on another night, he walks off the pitch with 1 or 2 goals from those 3 opportunities.
Some days they go in, some they don't.
if he has an xg of 1. 5 per game for 38 games I'll be well happy come seasons end as its likely to balance out.
Yup , while that miss at the end was spectacular I was impressed by his reaction time/anticipation while everyone else was ball watching and if he gets 10 more of those this season he will probably bury 9 of them.
It just seems like an odd fit. He's going to score goals eventually because City create so many chances, but he doesn't seem like a Guardiola signing. Similar to Grealish. I think they're club signings more than anything. He's a player they haven't really had before under Pep, so it will obviously take some time to implement him into the system.
They've already got the league locked down, so it's all down to the CL. Would Haaland have converted one of those chances they created against Madrid? Probably, so that's all that matters I guess.
Not a chance.
I’ll blow your mind then: I’m Norwegian and I thought he was weak yesterday. Movement was sharp and you can see how he could easily hurt teams, but passing and finishing and involvement were overall bad from him yesterday.
There you go, a Noggie being critical. I’ve seen you and others toss this point around before, back when Ole was still here as well. Such a lazy fecking idiotic thing to say, and get fecked if you think going "no offence" takes away from that.
Some of the knee-jerkers in this thread. Wasn't this his second pre season game at a new club, the first where he played more than 45 mins?Having said that, guy needs to pipe down and focus on his football. Random jabs at United, pretending the Bayern friendly was a competitive game ("I've finally beaten Bayern after 8 games", no you didn't) etc. This kind of banter might work in a friendly league like BL but in the PL top players let their feet do the talking.
If a Man United big summer transfer striker played like he did on his debut we wouldn’t hear the end of it.
Christ he was shocking, comparing his performance yesterday to Lukaku is disrespectful to Lukaku.
How did he managed to miss that sitter? It was easier to score than not to.
Shocker.
Christ he was shocking, comparing his performance yesterday to Lukaku is disrespectful to Lukaku.
How did he managed to miss that sitter? It was easier to score than not to.
Shocker.
Your viewpoint is similar to mine. He'll get some decent stats this season, but I don't think the overall goal total is going to be that different. It definitely isn't going to be as simple as many were thinking, with City playing controlling football and just automatically adding 20+ league goals on top of that. It doesn't work that way. Their style is going to need to change, so we're going to see a different City to last season.
Saying that, he doesn't look like a completely natural fit for the football that Pep wants to play. It may be a case of Pep having to evolve somewhat, too.
There should be no way he doesn’t score 20+ goals all comps just by virtue of being in this city team.
He is the antithesis player of Pep's system, I never understood the signing, other than for commercial reasons or to prevent him going to Liverpool.
A lot has to change player and team to make things work.
It seems clear that this alvarez guy has everything to work better in the team than the Norwegian.
I honestly think City have lost a lot with this market, if they end up selling Bernardo Silva then you really can't understand anything.
A lot has to change player and team to make things work.
It seems clear that this alvarez guy has everything to work better in the team than the Norwegian.
I honestly think City have lost a lot with this market, if they end up selling Bernardo Silva then you really can't understand anything.
I don't think he's there to help them score even more goals. He can win them games when they're not playing well as a team.
Imagine if they had Haaland in the last 10 minutes of the CL SF last season? Madrid pinned them back, because City didn't have a counter threat. If you're now chasing a game against City, you're now having to bet on your CBs to single handedly manage a threat like Haaland in behind and more often than not you're going to get killed.
He missed 2 sitters yesterday but when you make the runs he makes and gets into the positions that he dies inevitably the goals will come.
He should comfortably get 30 goals once the whole team starts to click and figure it out. City have to play to Haaland and let the chances comes naturally and they will be alright.
He should comfortably get 30 goals once the whole team starts to click and figure it out. City have to play to Haaland and let the chances comes naturally and they will be alright.
Correct
Someone pass the puke bucket please
He'll probably come good and score plenty for City, but people go way overboard with him. You'd think he's some Leo Messi type genius footballer going by the hype train.
But he does need time settle. Shouldn't really have a problem adapting.
But he does need time settle. Shouldn't really have a problem adapting.
Missing sitters is one thing, all strikers has off games. The thing to care about is wether or not he is able to get himself into positions where he even can finish. He did that several times, against one of the best defenses in football.
If he keeps injury free he is going to be the player in the EPL with most shots on goal this season. I suppose we can hope it doesnt convert into a lot of goals.
If he keeps injury free he is going to be the player in the EPL with most shots on goal this season. I suppose we can hope it doesnt convert into a lot of goals.
Unless it's a two horse race again, then we'll be hoping he's banging them in
Aye, he's obviously overrated, but he'll most certainly score a bucket full when he settles. City create too many chances, and he's too clinical a finisher, for it not to happen.
I think it was Terry Pratchett who pointed out that the problem with going "no offence" is that it's used by the sort of people who find it more convenient to say "no offence" than to actually abstain from being offensive.
I agree. I always thought Grealish was a jarring signing too. It's not that I think they can't or won't succeed under Pep, it's more that in order to do so they really have to change the way they play the game quite extensively - and some of the things they'll have to put away or tone down are things that seem central to why they're great.
the day ITV get live football back regularly, is day to start watching beach volleyball...
He's defiently not going to flop like Lukaku but I did chuckle a little when I saw the service excuse for his performance rolled out
He's defiently not going to flop like Lukaku but I did chuckle a little when I saw the service excuse for his performance rolled out
This thread will definitely deliver on so many levels.
Upon further deliberation the zlatan comparisons might not be entirely apt, he was hastily brought on just for barca to flex their muscles at Madrid ( who had just gone through the greatest and most expensive window of all time ) to spite them, I doubt pep ever really asked for him specifically which doesn't seem to be the case here.
Also they had perhaps the greatest player of the time at their disposal at the time so as great as zlatan was it didn't really make sense to move out messi's position to accommodate him , overall it was a sorry and failed experiment.
A player of messi's caliber doesn't exist at city currently (it doesn't exist anywhere) so pep has no excuses for not accommodating halland and setting the team up around him which i believe he plans to do so he should be fine on that front.
It's not given at all that he's going to be a hit but it should be a far more smooth transition than what zlatan had to deal with.
Also they had perhaps the greatest player of the time at their disposal at the time so as great as zlatan was it didn't really make sense to move out messi's position to accommodate him , overall it was a sorry and failed experiment.
A player of messi's caliber doesn't exist at city currently (it doesn't exist anywhere) so pep has no excuses for not accommodating halland and setting the team up around him which i believe he plans to do so he should be fine on that front.
It's not given at all that he's going to be a hit but it should be a far more smooth transition than what zlatan had to deal with.
I’ve been convinced for a few years now that City will sign players simply to stop rivals strengthening, they have the money to sit players like Grealish on the bench and not bat an eyelid simply to prevent other teams catching up or strengthening key areas. Haaland is just another example.
How many of the same people saying Halaand will flop are also saying Martial will score lots of goals?
Lolz at anyone saying he'll flop. Wishful thinking
I still think he will be top scorer for forwards this next season, maybe top scorer period. He could be an absolute beast and make Aguero look amateur, but I hope not! Grealish to City didn't really add anything to their play, hopefully Haaland will have a similar... who am I kidding? He's going to tear it up. He's basically going to be Aguero + Kane of a couple seasons ago. I hope he flops on his tits, but it just ain't gonna happen.
That doesn't make any sense. This summer itself they've got rid of Sterling & Jesus to make room for Haaland and also more room for Grealish. They're not going to be sitting on the bench.
In fact they've been quite happy to strengthen a team that beat them in the CL Final just over a year ago.
Sterling is a better diver so he knows how to win a free kick or penalty or three himself.
But yes, the £100m price tag and non performance by Jack basically meant City couldn't offload him and because they're such a well run club (TM of Abu Dhabi)
Selling Jesus is cutting your face off to spite your nose though. If he got the same minutes as Haaland is definitely going to get and in the same central striker position then Jesus would approx. score the same number of goals while giving a great press from the front.
This is precisely the issue. We’ve played city loads of times over the period klopp and pep have been here and hand on heart that was the most relaxed time our midfield and defence have had versus a city A team.
It all boils down to playing against two reasonably immobile, press-allergic attackers in grealish and haaland. It completely upsets the historic dynamic of pep teams over the years and much as I was stumped with Pep spending £100m on grealish, I’m stumped by Pep spending what is going to be vastly in excess of that in terms of transfer+agent fees+wages/undeclared add ons etc on haaland.
He’ll bag a bunch of goals for city, but at the expense of overall play and cohesion especially against the top sides because playing him cedes the fundamental advantage pep sides have had over the years which is control.
Losing sterling and Jesus was madness, because those players brought a mix of unpredictability and speed and a ferocious press without compromising on the ability to exercise control.
I think they’ll score 90 odd goals again this season except the bulk of those will be scored by haaland and Alvarez rather than be shared out across the front six, whilst being significantly easier to play against particularly when facing the top six.
There will be long debates along the same lines as we had with Ronaldo last year re his numbers being padded to the detriment of the team’s overall play, and I think there will be plenty of games drawn or lost versus the likes of spurs, Chelsea, United, Liverpool etc.
My main takeaway from this game was that both sides have bought a striker extremely well suited to their style. Neither of whom is called haaland.
All three strikers are likely to be extremely successful in terms of goal numbers as they’re all very effective converters of chances playing in the two teams which create the most goalscoring opportunities anywhere in the world - that isn’t the measure of success.
The bottom line is Ronaldo scored bagfuls of goals and also made United worse, mainly because he reserved the use of his excellent movement exclusively to get at the end of chances rather than to help in general play. I see haaland having the same issue unless he’s prepared to completely adapt his style and become the ‘obedient schoolboy’ so derided by zlatan.
A striker of his quality will score goals, he missed 2 sitters but the worry would be if he didnt get chances, he didnt play great but still probably had the 2 best chances that didnt end up as a goal
absolutely loathe the guy, his face actually angers me.
but he's scoring 25+ if he stays injury free. no doubt about it.
but he's scoring 25+ if he stays injury free. no doubt about it.
He's barely had a preseason. Still expect him to finish the season as the league's top scorer. Hopefully he should be enough to keep Liverpool in second.
People questioning whether he’s a generational talent and doubting his quality are just displaying their limited footballing knowledge
Haaland will piss the league, just let City settle in. They’ve only had 2 pre-season games and look behind the rest from fitness level, they’ll hit their stride eventually and Haaland will steamroll sides. Don’t overreact on basis of one game
Haaland will piss the league, just let City settle in. They’ve only had 2 pre-season games and look behind the rest from fitness level, they’ll hit their stride eventually and Haaland will steamroll sides. Don’t overreact on basis of one game
Pretending he is not going to smash in goals for fun is only setting yourselves up for disappointment, please don't do it to yourself lads.
Spike from Tom & Jerry and he will bang goals in for fun.