Guardiola would play Mbappe the next game, because one moment doesn't make a player, and he's got an impeccable 5 year track record. But I can appreciate the enormous overreaction and hyperbole.
Nordic Ghost Yeti (Scandi Carroll) | Haaland at City
- Thread starter Samid
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To be honest i highly doubt it. Mbappe is PSG's icon now so he will play. The french league is not very popular so most people only see him in CL or WC.
Mbappe plays on any team in the world, he would actually be a perfect match for City, even with Haaland there. But that's neither here nor there.
You have no idea of what's going on with Mbappé having, according to several media, personnal issues on top of being back from an injury. Yeah, it doesn't look good but it could have been a mix of frustration on top of feeling his body isn't responding properly to the sprint.
Look how selfish and cnunty he was tonight when he could have easily taken the shot (on top of scoring a treble), clearly the dressing room is fecked. And yeah, it's intentionnal
Anyway, enough uneducated conversations, back to his nemesis Haaland.
I am referring to Pep's tolerance to his attitude.
Benzema is laughably overrated on this forum but that's crazy. His linkup play is elite.
But it's funny that when other strikers like a Kane or Lewandowski show great all round play no one here bats an eyelid but when Benzema does the simplest lay off, takes a nice touch, the forum members can't stop fawning over it.
If Benzema pulled off the assist Lewandowski just did today, we'd never hear the end of it.
A ridiculous overreading of a single incident, Mbappé has won a World Cup, he’s been PSG’s best player since he arrived, he’s been an inspirational player for young people in France and by most accounts a model professional. But yes he didn’t run after the ball once out of 25,000 times out of his career so sum up his entire personality and playing style based off one clip.
To be fair no one watch that 25,000 times out of his career. Everybody just saw that one clip including myself. Yes it did sum up his entire personality and playing style based off that one clip. That's what marketing does.
What's nebulous about that? A target striker usually occupies certain areas in the box. Areas that in a more fluid attacking set up would be attacked by different players, as it's typically done by City and Liverpool in the last seasons. One can argue that this is actually harder to defend than a more static setup. So it doesn't matter whether or not it is the striker's primary function to score goals when the role itself is in question. I mean, what's the point in squeezing a classic number 9 in your formation when in the end your goal scoring doesn't even go up thanks to it? Then it is just a reallocation of goals. I'm not claiming that it definitely is that way, only that it could be based on what we've witnessed in recent years. For what it's worth, I've watched lots of Dortmund before and after Haaland joined and I don't think he really made them better. They weren't any closer to Bayern nor any less ahead of Leipzig and Leverkusen. Could be different for City, but one way or another, I definitely think the impact of high scoring strikers is overestimated these days because so many people are obsessed with goal stats.
Nothing about being new. His all round game has always been meh.
Except Benzema is exceptional in his all round play whereas Haaland is bang average. Of course Haaland's nose for goal at a young age is impeccable but the point to remember is that he isn't peak Benzema right now or anything. He's the goals part without the superb all round football. I do wonder if he'll ever be a great footballer like the very best strikers I.e peak Henry, Suarez, Benzema, Eto'o etc. Or is he basically the ultimate poacher.
Good thing they sold him. No team wants players who doesn’t make them better.
Never said he was, just that his trajectory p
What was Newcastle’s thinking behind having Trippier marking Haaland on corners and set pieces today? Total mismatch in size.
Agreed, Pep seemed proper fecked off when he didn’t pass to Haaland. Carries on like that and he’ll be benched.
Haaland is weak in the air and doesn't head the ball well at all. So he isn't a threat on aerial set plays.
Plenty of teams have shorter players go man for man on the opposition's bigger ones just to act as blockers while their own aerial threats line up zonally and attack the ball as it comes in.
It's been a trend on set pieces for a few years now.
He doesn’t need to hit one from 30 yards in this City team. He only need to put a few chances in and he will be 30+ goals a season striker there, if he stays fit.
The thing is, his accelerated run into the box is amazing, his strength is amazing, and these 2 alone will create himself alot of space and turn those half chance to real chance with him constantly running into great position to score.
He surely has great first touch which is very important on how Real Madrid setup their play. But I feel Vinicius Jnr pace was an even bigger factor in driving Madrid to CL title last season.
There is no personal issue that justifies that. Ronaldo has his primadonna moments that annoy people and they get exacerbated when he’s got a niggle and not feeling right too, but he’s never done anything like that. He wouldn’t even do something like that in his worst moments personally, like the miscarriage. The fact you’re looking to explain it away is the problem people are pointing to. He has way too much leeway.
I’d say we have experience of it with van Nistelrooy, van Persie and Ibrahimovic, and it probably applies to a lot of the best #9s ever. You can see how it makes the attack a bit more one dimensional and more likely to create that single point of failure in key games, particularly knockout games. They monopolise the chances so the other attackers don’t get into reliable goal scoring form, so if the opposition can effectively neutralise that striker or they have an off game, you don’t have other real scorers in that moment to step in.
But my point is his attitude isn't an issue. It was a shitty thing to do, but this is not a case of someone losing his grip and doing these things consistently. The guy is a top professional, he just did a dumb, stupid reaction because god knows what was going on in his private life, he probably shouldn't have even been on the field, but he doesn't have an attitude issue and Pep or any coach for that matter would still select him next game because they'd know him far more than those dummies who see one clip and make a character judgement as if they knew the first thing about the player or the man but yet only watch him during the CL. Give me a break. He showed this game that this was a whole mountain of nothing, as expected.
And which records did Haalan break for City in CL? I am not saying he won't be better player than Tevez, but better for City than someone like Tevez.
Comparing Bundesliga goals with PL and La Liga goals is pointless. Especially with the players you mentioned who at those years were more than just a pure goalscorers that Haaland is.
Hear hear. And no way do they ever win the CL with him in the team.
He'll get his stats but ultimately they will be a worse team. Their bench looked thin as well
Have you ever seen Benzema play football? Bad link up play and first touch?
Yep. So far he plays like inzaghi on steroids.
I can't believe how many are eagerly praising him for not being involved in play at all, as if off the ball runs is just as good as getting involved. Someone should have told Suarez, Henry et al.
I can't see pep being happy with it in the long run. This is a guy who needs his keeper to be a better playmaker than most midfielders and plays xabi Alonso in defence. Yet he'll be happy with a centre forward who plays one pass in a game outside of kick off?
Sure he scores goals but his game outside of that is shocking so far, as in genuinely bad. He'll need to rework his game to stay in pep's good graces in the long run.
Praising his off ball work and movement while they were teared apart on counter attack and conceeded 3 goals, couldn't control the game to save their life shouldn't be taken seriously anyway.
So why don't you take a look at the numbers he's produced for Salzburg, Dortmund and Norway and compare them to the CL and NT numbers of the other mentions there. They are even more flattering for the Norwegian.
Put Haaland in 2009-2018 Real Madrid or Barca, would he not score shitloads? Different players with very different skillsets are hard to compare, but when it come to goalscoring the young norwegian i second to none.
Are there seriously people doubting Haaland?
Because if the argument is "his style doesn't fit City as he doesn't offer linkup play", then I would like to know for which team he'd be a better fit. For which team would you not use that specific criticism if he'd play for them?
Because if the argument is "his style doesn't fit City as he doesn't offer linkup play", then I would like to know for which team he'd be a better fit. For which team would you not use that specific criticism if he'd play for them?
He'd fit us perfectly. A team that isn't very reliant on slow buildup but rather is quicker in transition, he'd be a massive upgrade on Ronaldo.
But the objective isn't to have the player with the highest goal record but the best overall team. Now that you've already mentioned Madrid and Barca, Haaland and Cristiano together in one team would never have worked unless one of them would have been willing to renounce on a lot of goals, rendering your argument a bit pointless. And Barca would've been a worse team with Haaland instead of Suarez in the team. And during Messi's false 9 days, they probably had benched Haaland similarly to how they benched Ibrahimovic or at least played him out of position like Henry and Eto'o (who, similarly to Suarez, were far better at linkup play).
As outstanding as Haaland's goal record is, his linkup play is nowhere near that.
In the end it comes down to player quality and how well they fit each other in the chosen system.
Is Haaland a better player than the one now benched? Is he utilized as well or better as that one? If yes, then he will improve a team, if no he won't.
And I think right now there are very few players better than him, but the second question has to be answered "no" at the moment. City needs to click more with him to become a better team, at the moment they aren't and that will be Guardiola's task this season, at the moment it feels like only de Bruyne already developed a real understanding of Haaland and his qualities.
Is Haaland a better player than the one now benched? Is he utilized as well or better as that one? If yes, then he will improve a team, if no he won't.
And I think right now there are very few players better than him, but the second question has to be answered "no" at the moment. City needs to click more with him to become a better team, at the moment they aren't and that will be Guardiola's task this season, at the moment it feels like only de Bruyne already developed a real understanding of Haaland and his qualities.
I can see him volleying Foden before the season ends. How many times has Haaland had a tap in now and Foden has refused to pass to him? He looked fuming on each occasion too.
It was 100% hypothetical, but the thought was obviously to put the same/similar teams (Teams capable of scoring 150+ goals a season, season in and season out) around Haaland as Messi and Ronaldo had around them in their primes there. You don't bench the best goalscorer in the world if the results are good and the spirit in the team is good.
You keep on mentioning how he doesn't contribute in the linkup play, but he's actually very good at finding his teammates in good scoring positions. He won't drop deep very often to just move the ball around though. Did you know that he had the highest xA/90 (expected assists per 90 minutes) of all the players with more than 500 minutes or more at Dortmund last season, with 0,28, due to his vertical and direct playing style? Higher than the likes of Lewandowski (0,14), Reus (0,27), Kane (0,27), Son (0,23), Mane (0,17), Jota (0,22), Firmino (0,20), Havertz (0,13), Mount (0,27), Ronaldo (0,16), Vardy (0,08), Saka (0,23), Laca (0,16), B. Silva (0,21), Mahrez (0,24), Stirling (0,21), Immobile (0,09), Vlahovic (0,10), Lautaro(0,14) Osimhen (0,10) Tammy (0,13), Suarez (0,09), Griezmann (0,17), Auba (0,11), Depay (0,23), Coutinho (0,15) etc. Same as Jesus (0,28) and only just pipped by Benzema (0,31), Vini (0,31), Salah (0,32) for instance..
I certainly agree with you that the most important objective for a player must be to improve the entire teams output and results through his role, presence and qualities on the pitch.
It remains to be seen if City becomes better with him or not. Three games in is too early, but unfortunately I think he's the final piece of the puzzle for them.
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But Ten Hag wants to play Guardiola-esque football. So if Haaland came to Utd then no doubt we'd be hearing comparisons to Van Nistelrooy of how he limits fluidity.
@Zehner weren’t you vehemently defending Sancho in the other thread? Meanwhile Haaland has almost equaled his entire 20/21 contributions in just 3 games…
I get your general point, but at what point is it just intellectualism/bias towards pretty technique to bang on about all round play while he’s clearly had a very effective start for a young PL striker?
I get your general point, but at what point is it just intellectualism/bias towards pretty technique to bang on about all round play while he’s clearly had a very effective start for a young PL striker?
Can we have Ten Hag getting the team to play football at all first?
He's pretty much what we all expected really.
Not involved in the game much, but comes alive around the box or with balls in behind.
Top class movement and predatory instincts.
Has he made city a better team? debateable - but he's a different option.
Not involved in the game much, but comes alive around the box or with balls in behind.
Top class movement and predatory instincts.
Has he made city a better team? debateable - but he's a different option.
It was very bizarre how Foden so often opted for some weak, low percentage shot when he could have passed it to Haaland for an easy finish. Does he feel threatened by Haaland's arrival or something? My sensible head says that there's no way he can be that pathetic, but I do wonder......