Nordic Ghost Yeti (Scandi Carroll) | Haaland at City

I watched him closely today and his movement is exceptional .
In the box and whilst city midfield has the ball he makes very good runs.
Not all of them come off but once Bernardo and de bruyne get on his wavelength he’ll score for fun.
It’s already happening with de bruyne who is a little smarter on the ball than Bernardo.
He is already an incredible player and his acceleration is amazing for someone so tall.
Once things click, and they surely will he’ll be a massive asset.
 
SilentWitness said:
you said he isn’t some great talent and would be nowhere near Aguero. His trajectory very much puts him in Aguero territory and it would be surprising if he didn’t achieve that level.
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On trajectory, he's way beyond Aguero. Whether that trajectory holds up is a different matter, but if you want to look at where he is and what he's achieved relative to his age, that compares well with pretty much any striker in the history of football. Pep said it himself.

When Cristiano Ronaldo was the same age, he had appeared in 21 CL games and scored 1 goal. Wayne Rooney had 11 CL games with 4 goals, and 42 goals in 132 PL games. Aguero had appeared in 9, and scored 4. Luis Suarez had played 2, scored 1 and had just completed his first season at Ajax after moving from Groningen. Karl Heinz Rummenigge had 13 European cup appearances, with 3 goals. Gerd Müller was in his first Bundeliga season (15 goals in 33 games), and had yet to play in Europe. Alan Shearer was still at Southampton, with 10 league goals over the past four seasons combined. Andriy Shevchenko was still at Dynamo Kiev, with 4 European appearances and 3 goals, while scoring at a lower pace in the Ukrainian league than Haaland did in the Bundesliga. Marco van Basten had 6 european appearances, 5 goals, and 59 league goals in 79 Eresdivisie games over the past three seasons. Ruud van Nistelrooy was still playing at level 2 in Holland.

Haaland has appeared in 20 CL games, and scored 23, with 62 goals in 67 Bundesliga appearances. So if it's trajectory we're talking about......
 
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izec said:
Not even sure they bought him for Pep, as i dont think he will be there for too long. He is a club signing. But a world class striker is always welcome for Pep as well.
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Haaland himself may not stay there for too long.
He requested two release clauses in his contract, one for 2024 and another one for 2025
 
Polar said:
It’s impossible for Haaland to compete in the consistency category together with example Aguero.

The funny thing is that nobody talk down example Benzema because of his even worse link-up play and terrible first touch. Benzema is a killer inside the box and that’s it, and people don’t ask for more.

Benzema, Kane, Lew and Haaland are the best strikers in the world, and they are all pretty much on the same level with different extreme qualities.

We’ll likely never experience a Benzema, Kane, Haaland or Lew kind of player with Messi or Neymar technique or qualities in the buildup play or visa versus.
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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
You have to assume he's wumming, otherwise that's just simply the wrongest take ever posted on the Caf.
 
Polar said:
It’s impossible for Haaland to compete in the consistency category together with example Aguero.

The funny thing is that nobody talk down example Benzema because of his even worse link-up play and terrible first touch. Benzema is a killer inside the box and that’s it, and people don’t ask for more.

Benzema, Kane, Lew and Haaland are the best strikers in the world, and they are all pretty much on the same level with different extreme qualities.

We’ll likely never experience a Benzema, Kane, Haaland or Lew kind of player with Messi or Neymar technique or qualities in the buildup play or visa versus.
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Benzema is amazing at link up play
 
The Purley King said:
I watched him closely today and his movement is exceptional .
In the box and whilst city midfield has the ball he makes very good runs.
Not all of them come off but once Bernardo and de bruyne get on his wavelength he’ll score for fun.
It’s already happening with de bruyne who is a little smarter on the ball than Bernardo.
He is already an incredible player and his acceleration is amazing for someone so tall.
Once things click, and they surely will he’ll be a massive asset.
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Spot on. The guy is a beast!
 
justsomebloke said:
On trajectory, he's way beyond Aguero. Whether that trajectory holds up is a different matter, but if you want to look at where he is and what he's achieved relative to his age, that compares well with pretty much any striker in the history of football. Pep said it himself.
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Still, Dortmund didn't score more after he joined.

The question is if the insane goal records of some top strikers don't come at the expense of others. Dybala for instance scored 15 or so goals less than in the previous season when Ronaldo joined and it's similar now at United. Bayern is already at 15 goals in 3 matches after losing Lewandowski.

You definitely have less fluidity in attack when you have one player occupy the dangerous areas.
 
Polar said:
It’s impossible for Haaland to compete in the consistency category together with example Aguero.

The funny thing is that nobody talk down example Benzema because of his even worse link-up play and terrible first touch. Benzema is a killer inside the box and that’s it, and people don’t ask for more.

Benzema, Kane, Lew and Haaland are the best strikers in the world, and they are all pretty much on the same level with different extreme qualities.

We’ll likely never experience a Benzema, Kane, Haaland or Lew kind of player with Messi or Neymar technique or qualities in the buildup play or visa versus.
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I know this has been quoted enough but you seriously need to realise how wrong you are. Have you ever watched Benzema?

His career is BUILT on his link-up play and contribution to attack. It’s only since Ronaldo left he’s prioritised being on the end of the attack but even still his contribution play is arguably the best of all the big name 9’s currently active.

Nobody talks down Benzema in that way because it simply isn’t true. He’s one of the best forwards of all time precisely at link-up play and non-scoring contributions.

The lad is hardly fecking Inzaghi or Nistlerooy.
 
Thought he was good today, another day he gets hat-trick.

Hs is clearly a monster running in behind and around the box with an excellent eye for goal but his back to goal play is fairly average lost the ball quite alot when he should of done better in that regard.

City struggled at times against Newcastle's press and didn't have an out ball because Haaland was struggling to hold the ball up, without Haaland with there false 9 system they would of just passed there way out of trouble but without the extra body it became a problem for them.

Maybe a little chink in the armour there, but Haaland is such a monster he may well score enough to more than make up for it.
 
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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Ok, I’ll do some numbers for you:

Haaland for Dortmund (all comps, age 19-21): 1,07 goals/90 and 1,36 goals+assists/90
Haaland in the CL (for Salzburg and Dortmund): 1,41 goals/90 and 1,60 goals+assists/90
Haaland for Norway: 1,08 goals/90 and 1,24 goals+assists/90

Cristiano for us in his golden boot and ballon d’or season (07/08, age 22-23): 0,91 goals/90 and 1,08 goals+assists/90
Prime Cristiano for Real Madrid: 1,07 goals/90 and 1,38 goals+assists/90
Cristiano in the CL: 0,79 goals/90 and 1,06 goals+assists/90
Cristiano for Portugal: 0,70 goals/90 and 0,95 goals+assists/90

Messi for Barca: 0,95 goals/90 and 1,38 goals+assists/90
Messi in the CL: 0,88 goals/90 and 1,17 goals+assists/90
Messi for Argentina: 0,58 goals/90 and 0,92 goals+assists/90

These are prime Messi and Ronaldo numbers.

Let’s compare with Tevez:
Tevez in the PL: 0,52 goals/90 and 0,76 goals+assists/90
Tevez in the CL: 0,38 goals/90 and 0,53 goals+assists/90
Tevez for Argentina: 0,27 goals/90 and 0,55 goals+assists/90

….and Aguero:
For Atletico (age 18-22): 0,52 goals/90 and 0,75 goals+assists/90
For City: 0,84 goals/90 and 1,07 goals+assists/90
In the CL: 0,71 goals/90 and 0,87 goals+assists/90
For Argentina: 0,67 goals/90 and 0,98 goals+assists/90

Is goalscoring a talent? The reason he’s hyped the way he is, is because he has been delivering goat goalscoring numbers consistantly since he turned 19 and has a unique set of skills.
As a pure goalscorer we haven’t seen anyone with similar numbers at his age since Pele. Tevez and Aguero wasn’t even remotely close to that tier. What makes you think he’ll hit Tevez level at best for City. There is absolutely nothing that suggests Haalands numbers suddenly would drop to Teves’ or even Aguero’s. That’s unfortunately wishfull thinking at best.

Messi and Cristiano pretty much produced their numbers playing 1st fiddle in stacked teams scoring 150+ goals every season (Dortmund around 100 in all comps)
As much as I want City to fail, if Haaland stays injuryfree there’s no way he scores sub 40 goals in all comps.
 
Jam said:
I know this has been quoted enough but you seriously need to realise how wrong you are. Have you ever watched Benzema?

His career is BUILT on his link-up play and contribution to attack. It’s only since Ronaldo left he’s prioritised being on the end of the attack but even still his contribution play is arguably the best of all the big name 9’s currently active.

Nobody talks down Benzema in that way because it simply isn’t true. He’s one of the best forwards of all time precisely at link-up play and non-scoring contributions.

The lad is hardly fecking Inzaghi or Nistlerooy.
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Agree 100 % :D
 
Zehner said:
Still, Dortmund didn't score more after he joined.

The question is if the insane goal records of some top strikers don't come at the expense of others. Dybala for instance scored 15 or so goals less than in the previous season when Ronaldo joined and it's similar now at United. Bayern is already at 15 goals in 3 matches after losing Lewandowski.

You definitely have less fluidity in attack when you have one player occupy the dangerous areas.
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...and you think this is always attributable to the striker? So, it is in fact pointless to have a striker who scores a lot of goals?
 
justsomebloke said:
...and you think this is always attributable to the striker? So, it is in fact pointless to have a striker who scores a lot of goals?
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No, I just wanted to point out.that there's indication.that strikers are not as important as their statistics seem to suggest. Which is why I'm not fully sold on Haaland making City a better team in the end.
 
Zehner said:
No, I just wanted to point out.that there's indication.that strikers are not as important as their statistics seem to suggest. Which is why I'm not fully sold on Haaland making City a better team in the end.
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Well, you haven't actually made a case for that. In fact, you are basically assuming that if you have a striker who score a lot but the team is not more successful, that is due to some nebulous adverse side effects of the striker scoring a lot. For which I don't think you have any basis (or at least not one you have stated) and which really makes limited sense, given that scoring a lot is a striker's primary function and purpose.

In some cases you could certainly make an argument that a striker's high production comes at the expense of overall team functionality. But I don't think you can generalise that argument, and common sense would dictate that these cases must be fairly rare exceptions.
 
I think the best non city fans can hope for is that he’s so good Madrid put in an offer for 200 million or so and Halaand puts in a transfer request.

He isn’t just a striker. Like a huge ship moving through water he changes the shape of the players around him. He would be amazing on mediocre team. On a team like City, with players like De Bruyne finding him? Once they have gel’d they will just be a different class than us.

For the “fluid movement” people: are you going to mark him with one player? He’s not a static statue waiting for a possible header like a Benteke. If he’s making sharp runs across the box, how well do you defend the player(s) coming in behind? He moves well and he moves a lot. He has areas to improve, sure, but very impressive so far.
 
Polar said:
The funny thing is that nobody talk down example Benzema because of his even worse link-up play and terrible first touch. Benzema is a killer inside the box and that’s it, and people don’t ask for more.
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WTF have I just read? I’m genuinely of the opinion you’ve never watched Benzema play. How the feck do you come to that conclusion? He’s probably one of the best build up and first touch strikers there has been in recent years. His first touch literally drove Madrid to the UCL title last season.
 
Chief123 said:
WTF have I just read? I’m genuinely of the opinion you’ve never watched Benzema play. How the feck do you come to that conclusion? He’s probably one of the best build up and first touch strikers there has been in recent years. His first touch literally drove Madrid to the UCL title last season.
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His first touch is great but I don't think it's that great...
 
adexkola said:
His first touch is great but I don't think it's that great...
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Watch back the games against Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool. His first touch was the focal point of every transition from defence to attack. Under immense pressure he’d keep the ball or draw a foul.
 
padr81 said:
Someone has never watched Benzema. Of all the strikers you could use for that example Benzema is literally the worst you could have picked.
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Sums up so much of many opinions on this forum. Absolutely ridiculous.
 
Chief123 said:
Watch back the games against Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool. His first touch was the focal point of every transition from defence to attack. Under immense pressure he’d keep the ball or draw a foul.
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His first touch is amazing but literally, it was his goals that drove Madrid to trophies, moreso than his first touch :D
 
Oly Francis said:
Yeah, they'll have to play more transitions, that's the way to use him fully. Building up and eventually trying to find him in the box isn't really working so far.
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It’s 3 games. It’s August. It’s a new league. New teammates and way of playing.

It’s also a dead certainty that if Foden and co don’t start passing to him when they are supposed, they’ll be hooked from the team.

There’s lots of kinks for them to iron out - this is clearly the ver 1.0.
 
Chief123 said:
WTF have I just read? I’m genuinely of the opinion you’ve never watched Benzema play. How the feck do you come to that conclusion? He’s probably one of the best build up and first touch strikers there has been in recent years. His first touch literally drove Madrid to the UCL title last season.
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As a RM fan since the days of Sanches and Butragueno (some days of here and there), I agree. It’s impossible to have played 13y for RM and not be a very good link up player. Benzema is great!

Forget whatever I tried with my bad attempt (read: smoking out rabbits comment :lol: )
 
Polar said:
As a RM fan since the days of Sanches and Butragueno (some days of here and there), I agree. It’s impossible to have played 13y for RM and not be a very good link up player. Benzema is great!

Forget whatever I tried with my bad attempt (read: smoking out rabbits comment :lol: )
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That notification bell is going to need a break after that previous comment. :lol:
 
adexkola said:
His first touch is amazing but literally, it was his goals that drove Madrid to trophies, moreso than his first touch :D
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Of course his goals are the key, I kind of exaggerated for effect to emphasise how important his first touch is and is normally the start of a lot of their attacks. It normally would go unnoticed.
 
Polar said:
It’s impossible for Haaland to compete in the consistency category together with example Aguero.

The funny thing is that nobody talk down example Benzema because of his even worse link-up play and terrible first touch. Benzema is a killer inside the box and that’s it, and people don’t ask for more.
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Erm… yeah…
 
GMoore23 said:
He's becoming a right piece of shit.

If I was a manager he'd never play for me again after that.
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Scored a hat trick the very next game. Good thing you're not a manager.
 
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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What CL goalscorer records did Tezev break?
 
Charlie Foley said:
I thought Foden’s decision making was terrible today
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Very selfish, he's enjoying the space Haaland's presence creates for him, but completely forgets about him when there's a pass to be made for an easy goal.
 
Polar said:
The funny thing is that nobody talk down example Benzema because of his even worse link-up play and terrible first touch. Benzema is a killer inside the box and that’s it, and people don’t ask for more.
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What the feck :lol:
 
Bluelion7 said:
I think the best non city fans can hope for is that he’s so good Madrid put in an offer for 200 million or so and Halaand puts in a transfer request.

He isn’t just a striker. Like a huge ship moving through water he changes the shape of the players around him. He would be amazing on mediocre team. On a team like City, with players like De Bruyne finding him? Once they have gel’d they will just be a different class than us.

For the “fluid movement” people: are you going to mark him with one player? He’s not a static statue waiting for a possible header like a Benteke. If he’s making sharp runs across the box, how well do you defend the player(s) coming in behind? He moves well and he moves a lot. He has areas to improve, sure, but very impressive so far.
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Madrid don’t have to, hasn’t he put another sensible release clause to activate in 2-3 years? Madrid will have their man for under £100m in a few years.

City know this is a short term arrangement. I think this is why Pep is happy “selling out” his footballing values to get a goal scoring predator instead as a difference maker in Europe.

If Pep is at City long term I can definitely see their Haaland replacement be another total football type.
 
justsomebloke said:
To say the least. 90m salary - more than the entire payroll of clubs like AC Milan or Napoli. And, reputedly, an actual say in major club decisions. Which no player should ever, ever have.
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exactly that. It’s insanity and will just continue to change football and not for the better.
 
Sayros said:
Scored a hat trick the very next game. Good thing you're not a manager.
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I couldn't care less if he scored ten goals in the next game in that farmers league. I wouldn't take that attitude from any player.

A player on wages like that with a stinking attitude can completely ruin the soul of a club. It'd totally feck the dressing room up.
Your far better off with a well drilled cohesive team of very good players who play for each other every game other than entitled pricks who think the sun rises and sets with them.

Do you think Guardiola would put up with that shit, never, and I'd back Guardiola over a cnut like that any day.
Give me one Guardiola or Fergie over 20 Mbappes.
 
Samid said:
Mbappe lacks the attitude and humbleness to be potentially considered an all timer.

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:lol: no wonder he stays at PSG. If he pulled this stunt at Madrid, he could open white hanky shops from those thrown at him.
 
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