Nordic Ghost Yeti (Scandi Carroll) | Haaland at City
- Thread starter Samid
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Yep. Saw this old graph on twitter which illustrates the point nicely.
Also, Benteke is hillarious.
Yep. Saw this old graph on twitter which illustrates the point nicely.
Also, Benteke is hillarious.
xG is at its most dumb when it’s used to analyse a single football match. City are a team that always creates a load of chances. None of Haaland’s chances were the result of particularly impressive play on his part. Benteke would have probably ended up with a similar number. He would also have missed.
We can all have the craic and pretend he's not going to score a shit tonne for City, but it's not reality. The guy is 22 and has over 150 club goals to his name. He's definitely going to score a-lot of goals for City.
Much like Nunez, we can banter all we want, but the liklihood is that both will end up in-and-around the PL top scorers this season. The only question around Haaland is; will he adversely affect City's overall play? This obviously won't be answered for a few months yet. He's certainly a very different striker than Pep has previously used at City.
Completely agree. Such a smackable face.
Yeah, he’ll probably score loads. I’m really just focusing on the one and only game he’s played for City against PL opposition. Where I thought he was poor as an individual and his presence made City less good as a team. I might have to revise this opinion after he’s played a few more games. I’m not even sure I want him to flop anyway (other than because it would be funny) as that gives Liverpool a much easier crack at the league.
He's one of the ugliest footballers I've seen, and the long hair just makes him look even more like a complete school bully-type prick.
I bet he was slapping a few of the smaller kids around in school.
Tbf; I thought City looked miles off the pace and Liverpool seemed to really care about winning the match.
I think Haaland comes across a-bit of a nob, and it would be great if he was a massive flop. Unfortunately, I think both him and City will find their rythem soon enough.
See edited post above re mixed feelings if he is a massive flop!
That's kinda my point. As you say, City are a team that always create a load of chances. And Haaland himself is a player who has always generated a lot of xG, which is a knack in itself rather than being something you rely on your team for. And not neccesarily something that requires "impressive" play but often just getting into the right positions to get easy chances.
If either of those things change and the chances he's getting decline, then that would be a concerning sign for him and City. Missing sitters like he did against Liverpool, not so much.
Especially given that, unlike Benteke, Haaland is a player who has consistently overperformed his xG over multiple seasons. So so far in his career there's nothing to suggest that he'd be a Benteke-like exception to the general rule that missing big chances is a good predictor of future goals.
But obviously one game isn't a trend. It's more about what we should be looking out for. Also it doesn't mean that he won't struggle in tighter CL games, for example.
Aye, that's the killer, isn't it! Not actively wanting City/City players to flop hard, because, the scousers...What a time to be alive.
I do fancy Liverpool slipping away a-bit this season. But that probably means they'll go and win the lot!
benteke being mentioned in this thread is embarrassing
Yeah, for Haaland, the overrated twatface.
He looks like a thumb with a face printed on it.
He’s guaranteed to score 20+ goals, any half decent striker would in that side. However, he’s going to change the dynamic of that side and whether it makes them any better is another story. I personally don’t think they’ll be better off with him in the long run.
feck me, few Lukaku touches there. Actually reminds me alot of him too.
Reckon Lukaku would score about a million goals in Dorrmund also. Don’t remotely see the resemblance to a classy striker like Lewandowski.
Reckon Lukaku would score about a million goals in Dorrmund also. Don’t remotely see the resemblance to a classy striker like Lewandowski.
Haaland simply is not a Pep player. He isn't technically gifted enough. He won't get involved in the majority of the build-ups.
His positioning and movement and spacial awareness are world class, though.
If he played in an Ole team, where counter attacking football is king, he'd probably score 30-40 goals a season in the EPL. However, in a possession based Pep team, I'm not entirely sure he'll thrive.
Personally, I think he'll flop. Unless City evolve their game to a more direct one... which they won't, as Pep is an idealist.
It'll be an interesting watch.
His positioning and movement and spacial awareness are world class, though.
If he played in an Ole team, where counter attacking football is king, he'd probably score 30-40 goals a season in the EPL. However, in a possession based Pep team, I'm not entirely sure he'll thrive.
Personally, I think he'll flop. Unless City evolve their game to a more direct one... which they won't, as Pep is an idealist.
It'll be an interesting watch.
Nowhere near as embarrassing as the context for that mention going over your head.
This idea of a "Pep player" baffles me. From what I remember, Mahrez and Walker were all said to not be Pep players before they played for Pep.
You are a 'Pep' player as long as you follow his tactical instructions. It's that simple really.
People keep talking about Haaland because of his misses yesterday but forget he openly had 45 minutes of matches in a Manchester City short before the Community Shield final. The whole Manchester City squad were several levels below Liverpool fitness wise. The only Manchester City player that was fully match fit was Julian Alvarez because he just finished the end of the season at Boca Jrs.
To put it in context, Liverpool had 4 preseason games before the Community Shield game while Manchester City had only 2.
A footballer's fitness underpins everything a player does. You could even see some of the poor decisions Kevin De Bruyne chose because he lacked the fitness and sharpness.
Haaland will be fine. Manchester City will need the Premier League games once again, like the last seasons under pep, to get back their match fitness. That could be what costs them the title as the teams they play in the first few games will have a greater chance of beating them now.
City had played two pre season games total and started pre season later than any premier League club.
It's no surprise they didn't look themselves.
It's no surprise they didn't look themselves.
Salah and reinvigorated Kane might have something to say about that.
Jury is still out on Haaland maintaining his fitness throughout PL season.
Not sure if Son can repeat his last season's goalscoring form with Richarlison upfront.
Nuñez have some outside chance but Salah will edge it as he takes the pens and won't be playing WC.
He is going to fail
It's not happening, much as you want it to. He will absolutely murder this league once he gets going.
40 goals all comps. At least.
This is literally the only thing that can stop him being the PL's top scorer this season.
I wonder why this is? Is Pep just swimming in his own arrogance now? Or is there another, more reasonable explanation?
Haaland has plenty of room for improvement in his game but I really don't think he is dramatically worse than Aguero or Lewandowski in terms of his ability to contribute to the team's overall play. Pep made it work with those guys (not always easily, but he made it work) and I see no reason to believe he won't eventually figure out how to make it work with Haaland.
I do think City might struggle a little bit during the transition, giving Liverpool a leg up in the title race this year.
I do think City might struggle a little bit during the transition, giving Liverpool a leg up in the title race this year.
Possibly true. City have started slow before though.
I feel he will be a flat-track bully and struggle against the bigger teams for the first season then slowly become a dominant force. This is a big step up for him, it's not as easy to play for City and Pep, and the team he's facing are mainly all going to shut the shop down and dare him to find a way, this is only going to improve him as a striker. He got a boatload of goals in Germany, but the amount of times he found himself with open space bearing down on the goalkeeper are going to be reduced a lot in the PL.
I'm not as certain as some that he will be top scorer this season, although it wouldn't surprise me, but I definitely don't think he's going to take a long time to start banging them in, I just don't know if he'll pull it off in the bigger games, but he is a solid passer and if he keeps improving his link-up play, I can see him at least being a solid target man in those games and laying it off to help his teammates score if teams manage to contain him. He will learn to be impactful without scoring sometimes and that will make him a much better player, but he's mainly going to score a ton of goals because City is leagues ahead of 99% of the league and they just added him.
I'm not as certain as some that he will be top scorer this season, although it wouldn't surprise me, but I definitely don't think he's going to take a long time to start banging them in, I just don't know if he'll pull it off in the bigger games, but he is a solid passer and if he keeps improving his link-up play, I can see him at least being a solid target man in those games and laying it off to help his teammates score if teams manage to contain him. He will learn to be impactful without scoring sometimes and that will make him a much better player, but he's mainly going to score a ton of goals because City is leagues ahead of 99% of the league and they just added him.
His ability to contribute to overall team play is dramatically worse than Lewandowski and Aguero.
I agree with the main premise - he will be a flat track bully, but City will lose some of their control over possession against tougher opposition as he simply wont be as involved in possession as a false 9, and won't get chances handed to him on a plate as much. But I think he'll end up scoring a huge number against teams who park the bus, its where he will come into his own for City. City's midfielders will create a ton of chances and half chances for him, and he's ruthless in the box. He'll struggle in games where City aren't in total control. However he also has the pace to be a threat on the break too, so he will score a few like that. City will have to adjust to him to as much as he will need adjust to them, they should look to take advantage of his strengths, look for some direct passes in behind and some aerial crosses because he will make the most of them.
Yes, I think their adjustments will be very easy. He had a poor game and still had a couple of good chances. I definitely think they need to adjust more to him than vice-versa, you bought him for what he does and the development, but there isn't too much you'd want to change besides improved link-up play and other technical aspects. There's times where you could see the City players being a split second late on his runs that they will iron out. Unfortunately for the rest of the league, it will only be serious injuries that will stop him from keeping their dominating grip on the PL.
The only problem Haaland will have is that he is very much a headline grabber, and he plays in a team full of headline grabbers. Pep is a specialist in cultivating a team style that in its essence is unselfish, however you can have a lot of selfish players playing in that system. One to many though and it might break. However, If players like De Bruyne etc feel valued by giving Haaland assists and start looking for him at every opportunity, they'll just walk the league. Too much quality.
Why do you say he's a headline grabber? Besides his team shopping him around while at Dortmund, which I think is more business than anything else, they now hyped the hell out of him but it's kind of normal, he's the best young CF in the world and he's joining arguably the best team in the world that didn't have a true CF, the headlines and hype reactions write themselves. He doesn't strike me as a selfish individual, I mean he's a CF but he seems happy with his teammates success as well when he was at Dortmund. If I were to do an Olympic stretch on how it could go wrong besides just injuries, maybe he says something really dumb in an interview since he's got some, erm, unique interview skills and hurts the team morale but that's a gold medal-worthy stretch there.
And besides, he'll most likely get a lot of the headlines anyways by virtue of his role on the team of banging the goals in.
Yeah, no that is what i ment. Headline grabber by virtue, because he is so good. I was thinking of the other players who probably need to like him a bit to sacrifice themselves for his goal returns and as you said, he can be weird. I don't see this ending badly however. Pep has too much control. It's much more likely Haaland wins them the CL for years to come.
Seems very strange when West Ham is their first game as well.
Yeah, a tough start.
I can't see it being a guarantee he will be great in his first season, too many players have looked really great in the bundesliga with impressive stats like mkhitaryan, werner, sancho, havertz, kagawa, haller etc.. and been underwhelming and being a great goalscorer in the Austrian league is nothing special as seen with the current crop of young strikers at salzberg smashing it.
Plus a lot of players struggle to adapt straight away to pep's system and we saw how pep struggled with fitting Ibrahimovic into his system and has always seemed to do better with playing a false 9 then with a out and out striker.
Plus a lot of players struggle to adapt straight away to pep's system and we saw how pep struggled with fitting Ibrahimovic into his system and has always seemed to do better with playing a false 9 then with a out and out striker.
How many of those players were the fastest to 20 CL goals?
What about haller last season in the ucl? Most of these players weren't strikers or had the opportunity to play in the ucl many times before moving to the prem, haaland wasn't the only one that looked impressive with salzberg a few seasons back, you had the 2 Japanese players that looked really good and both have looked average since joining the prem