Nordic Ghost Yeti (Scandi Carroll) | Haaland at City

Pogue Mahone said:
Be interesting to see if/when Pep benches him for Alvarez, who is surely much better suited for how they play.
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In this small sample size is there any evidence Haaland is having a negative effect on how they play so far?

They've won both games with complete ease scoring 6 goals in the process. Haaland got an assist yesterday, missed a chance and should have got a tap in if Foden squared it.

Certainly has some improvement to make in his all round game but I think people already had the narrative that he's going to mess up City's fluidity before he even played and they're going to stick with that narrative whether it materialises or not.
 
Noot said:
If Foden squares it instead of being selfish, Haaland has a goal and then nobody is complaining.

To paint it with broader strokes, Haaland can't do much about it if nobody is passing to him.
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That’s a strange accusation. Why is nobody on his team passing to him? Look how many touches City’s attacking players usually have in a match. Why are his figures so low?
 
Dominos said:
In this small sample size is there any evidence Haaland is having a negative effect on how they play so far?

They've won both games with complete ease scoring 6 goals in the process. Haaland got an assist yesterday, missed a chance and should have got a tap in if Foden squared it.

Certainly has some improvement to make in his all round game but I think people already had the narrative that he's going to mess up City's fluidity before he even played and they're going to stick with that narrative whether it materialises or not.
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They’ve played three games with him in the team so far. In two game they destroyed cannon fodder, which they repeatedly did last season without him in the team. The third fixture (Charity Shield) was against top opposition and they lost.

Obviously too small a sample size to draw any long term conclusions but there’s as much reason to be negative as positive about his impact so far.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
That’s a strange accusation. Why is nobody on his team passing to him? Look how many touches City’s attacking players usually have in a match. Why are his figures so low?
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Because there were two or three defenders on him at all times. Most teams won't play that way against him.
 
It’s simple. He’s a out and out goal scorer. He might of only had two touches during bournemouth game but he got a very good assist for one of them. He’s running all over into space drawing defenders away created space for other players. He will be productive for them which is more important than getting lots of touches. Will score 20-30 goals I reckon.
 
Teams are double marking him at times and it’s leaving their midfielders with much more space. Foden being greedy as usual cost Haaland a goal.
 
He doesn't really need to pass the ball if City are camped in the opponents box. It might sound weird as a pure stat, but if you see how the game went he was surrounded by a defensive wall pretty much all match.

If he isn't getting the space then that means the other players will be, City still win 4-0 and probably could/should have had 6/7.

I wish we had that problem right now.
 
Noot said:
Because there were two or three defenders on him at all times. Most teams won't play that way against him.
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Its because he's always on the shoulder of the last defender, he doesn't show for the pass by coming deeper or moving wider.
In a way it occupies the defenders and keep center backs focus solely on him, but in another way especially in big games it would reduce the control city have in the midfield which might not necessary be a bad thing if they utilize his strength and play more directly but you never know with Pep who is obsessed with possession Haaland could be dropped.
 
"Fabulous decoy performance."

Fecking hell. It's OK to just say he was shit.

If he scored a goal he would have scored and still played a shit game.
 
Silent domination.

Before he arrived I don't think City ever beat anyone 4-0.
 
if he keeps dragging away defenders, he will still make some space. City has many players to to score goals. it will take him a few months to be in sync. Pep's system is not easy for everyone to understand immediately.
 
Trex said:
Its because he's always on the shoulder of the last defender, he doesn't show for the pass by coming deeper or moving wider.
In a way it occupies the defenders and keep center backs focus solely on him, but in another way especially in big games it would reduce the control city have in the midfield which might not necessary be a bad thing if they utilize his strength and play more directly but you never know with Pep who is obsessed with possession Haaland could be dropped.
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Pep just wouldn't have bought Haaland if this was going to be an issue.
 
This boy is going to get credit for everything he doesn't do. Uncanny. It's all pep's genius too.
 
Mb194dc said:
Evidence builds he probably won't improve City's goal total from last season. They'll be different but not necessarily better.

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All of this after the grand total of two games where he still has 2 goals and one assist :lol: . The mental gymnastic and lengths people are going to play his contribution down are absolutely amazing. Shows how many are desperate to see him fail and would clutch at anything to fuel their agenda. I'm certain that this type of 'stats' would never show up if he landed at the red side of the city. Or at Liverpool cause some here just don't want to get off his back.

Jesus Christ.
 
I'm also not sold on him improving this City squad this much. People are obsessed with goal stats but I think flexible attacks are more dangerous than static ones focused on creating chances for one attacker. Haaland didn't improve Dortmund, Cristiano didn't improve Juve or United, Lukaku didn't improve Chelsea, it is starting to look like Lewandowski's departure isn't going to weaken Bayern and it remains to be seen if he actually improves Barcelona. Chelsea won the UCL without a target man, Liverpool and City were among the best teams the last few years without a classic number 9. At this point, I believe it is a legit question to ask whether the great goal records of target strikers actually come to the detriment of the team. At leat if they aren't contributing as much besides goals as Benzema or Lewandowski a few years ago.
 
That_Bloke said:
All of this after the grand total of two games where he still has 2 goals and one assist :lol: . The mental gymnastic and lengths people are going to play his contribution down are absolutely amazing. Shows how many are desperate to see him fail and would clutch at anything to fuel their agenda. I'm certain that this type of 'stats' would never show up if he landed at the red side of the city. Or at Liverpool cause some here just don't want to get off his back.

Jesus Christ.
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You think two passes in 70+ minutes isn't concerning? Not saying it definitely means he'll fail but this isn't something that people made up. Some actually believe that a player has to do more than just goal scoring.
 
Zehner said:
I'm also not sold on him improving this City squad this much. People are obsessed with goal stats but I think flexible attacks are more dangerous than static ones focused on creating chances for one attacker. Haaland didn't improve Dortmund, Cristiano didn't improve Juve or United, Lukaku didn't improve Chelsea, it is starting to look like Lewandowski's departure isn't going to weaken Bayern and it remains to be seen if he actually improves Barcelona. Chelsea won the UCL without a target man, Liverpool and City were among the best teams the last few years without a classic number 9. At this point, I believe it is a legit question to ask whether the great goal records of target strikers actually come to the detriment of the team. At leat if they aren't contributing as much besides goals as Benzema or Lewandowski a few years ago.
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That's a legitimate question but the two best clubs in the PL at the moment made the conscious choice of going for an out and out striker. I don't think it has to do with scoring more goals but scoring 'vital' goals. For all their domination Man City often lacked a killer in front of the goal who could unlock or a finish a game. This is especially true in the CL, and I personally how it would turn to a Lukaku or Ronaldo situation. Haaland is and shoulders above these two (Ronaldo of now) and his movement off the ball is exemplary. He weighs on a defense by his presence and isn't bullied, his assist was a prime example of that. It also takes time to bed in a Pep system, every single new player they had bar Dias took at least season to settle.

The end of this season will give us some answers but the amount of people jumping to conclusions after two games is baffling.
 
Zehner said:
You think two passes in 70+ minutes isn't concerning? Not saying it definitely means he'll fail but this isn't something that people made up. Some actually believe that a player has to do more than just goal scoring.
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I simply mean that it's too soon to ring the alarm bells. And no, two touches in 70 minutes isn't particularly brilliant, but I'd take 2 touches with an assist or a goal over 50 and doing feck all with it any day of the week. People are going overboard with this. Let's see how he performs over the course of 10 games at least.
 
That_Bloke said:
That's a legitimate question but the two best clubs in the PL at the moment made the conscious choice of going for an out and out striker. I don't think it has to do with scoring more goals but scoring 'vital' goals. For all their domination Man City often lacked a killer in front of the goal who could unlock or a finish a game. This is especially true in the CL, and I personally how it would turn to a Lukaku or Ronaldo situation. Haaland is and shoulders above these two (Ronaldo of now) and his movement off the ball is exemplary. He weighs on a defense by his presence and isn't bullied, his assist was a prime example of that. It also takes time to bed in a Pep system, every single new player they had bar Dias took at least season to settle.

The end of this season will give us some answers but the amount of people jumping to conclusions after two games is baffling.
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That_Bloke said:
I simply mean that it's too soon to ring the alarm bells. And no, two touches in 70 minutes isn't particularly brilliant, but I'd take 2 touches with an assist or a goal over 50 and doing feck all with it any day of the week. People are going overboard with this. Let's see how he performs over the course of 10 games at least.
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Yeah, it is far too early for a conclusion :) I was just observing a "trend" but you're right, apparently the two best coaches in the game see it differently :)

I just think it's worth a thought whether having a target man is worth losing fluidity in attack. Tuchel seems to have come to the same conclusion now that Chelsea sold Lukaku and Nagelsmann seems to be fine without one as well. And IMO, Haaland was always worst when facing a deep sitting defense because he had less space for his runs. I always thought that especially against a strong opponent, it is important to find solutions in tight areas. While Haaland has many strengths, he has his limitations in this discipline. On the other hand, City might be so strong on this front that they can actually carry a player like Haaland through this and afford the luxury to have somebody who is there to primarily finish off chances, so it'll be interesting
 
Zehner said:
Yeah, it is far too early for a conclusion :) I was just observing a "trend" but you're right, apparently the two best coaches in the game see it differently :)

I just think it's worth a thought whether having a target man is worth losing fluidity in attack. Tuchel seems to have come to the same conclusion now that Chelsea sold Lukaku and Nagelsmann seems to be fine without one as well. And IMO, Haaland was always worst when facing a deep sitting defense because he had less space for his runs. I always thought that especially against a strong opponent, it is important to find solutions in tight areas. While Haaland has many strengths, he has his limitations in this discipline. On the other hand, City might be so strong on this front that they can actually carry a player like Haaland through this and afford the luxury to have somebody who is there to primarily finish off chances, so it'll be interesting
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Yeah, there's always two sides to the coin and we'll see if the shift was worth it. In my opinion Man City definitely needed one, definitely for the league since it's 38 games and they score for fun anyway, but in the cup competitions where having a lethal finisher can make a world of difference.

I also think that Tuchel wouldn't have anything against a Haaland. Lukaku was a disaster and can in no way be compared to the later. Nagelsmann got Mané who granted isn't an out and out striker, but can fill in the gap. I'm sure he wouldn't have minded keeping Lewa for one more season. The transfer window isn't over yet and they might get a striker anyway.

Teams like man City and Liverpool can afford a striker that doesn't contribute that much to the overall play but I'd still say that none of them are passengers. Nunez works hard and Haaland doesn't stop to move. Don't know about Haaland's difficulties in tight spaces. He scored quite a few in such situations and still get two defenders busy opening spaces for the attackers, but I confess I maybe didn't watch enough of him to formulate a definitive opinion. He's still young and has one of the best managers to coach him. Likewise for Nunez. We'll have to wait for the end of the season maybe even the next to have a definitive opinion about the gamble.

Of course, nothing against a good discussion :) .
 
I just can't believe that Pep, who can't live without his goalkeeper being better in possession than most premier league players, will accept a striker who is so uninvolved.

He'll need to step it up a great deal if he's to be embraced by pep I reckon.
 
He will probably score lot of goals for City, and might generally win things with them too, but he really isn't some great talent many hyped him to be for years. I'd say he will be around Tevez level at best for them, which is still good, but nowhere near someone like Aguero.
 
Amar__ said:
He will probably score lot of goals for City, and might generally win things with them too, but he really isn't some great talent many hyped him to be for years. I'd say he will be around Tevez level at best for them, which is still good, but nowhere near someone like Aguero.
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:lol: You really want him to fail.
 
He is rather one dimensional but those runs are so threatening, noone is going to be able to deal with him physically if the balls are played. That is the key issue though, City are going to have be more direct and sacrifice some control to get the best out of him.
 
Amar__ said:
He will probably score lot of goals for City, and might generally win things with them too, but he really isn't some great talent many hyped him to be for years. I'd say he will be around Tevez level at best for them, which is still good, but nowhere near someone like Aguero.
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Tevez was absolutely world class in his first 2 seasons at City, as good as Aguero and I actually prefer peak Tevez to Aguero as he'd run his balls off also and put in some amazing all action performances.
He never sustained it though as he's a complete Cnut.
 
Skills said:
Foden seems to have some issue passing the ball to him.
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Has issues passing the ball to anyone. Swallowing his own hype and turning proper greedy, hope he gets hooked at half time again cause he didn't listen last week.
 
SilentWitness said:
:lol: You really want him to fail.
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Not really, I don't like players like him but he seems like a fun guy tbf, as a person I think he is quite decent guy, so enough for me to like him.

But have you read the hype around him when he was at Dortmund, many thought he is one of top3 players in the world, good as Benzema, easily the best player in the world in two three years, etc.?
 
Amar__ said:
Not really, I don't like players like him but he seems like a fun guy tbf, as a person I think he is quite decent guy, so enough for me to like him.

But have you read the hype around him when he was at Dortmund, many thought he is one of top3 players in the world, good as Benzema, easily the best player in the world in two three years, etc.?
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That's mainly because he looked like the only legitimate challenger to Mbappe who comes across as a massive prick.
 
My thoughts on City signing him is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

Think they'd have been better off keeping Sterling and Jesus, they were a better fit
 
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