This is still an open question I think. He surely changes how City plays and scores and gets high individual numbers, but if that makes them any better has to be proven.
Nordic Ghost Yeti (Scandi Carroll) | Haaland at City
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Every player and every manager is eventually 'worked out' by opposition teams in the PL. It could take half a season or a couple of seasons. The solutions might not completely help, e.g. Pep keeps winning the league, but there is progression. That's what makes this league better than all the others. Certainly much better than Bundesliga.
Klopp's rock and roll football for example has been exposed enough after initial successes. Salah on his left foot has been sussed after being the current best striker in the PL (going by him holding the PL record).
Haaland has many strengths but also quite obvious weaknesses too. If stopping City mainly means stopping Haaland (because Sterling and Jesus' pace is no longer the threat from KdB's through balls) then teams will start working this out soon enough. In the meantime, during this honeymoon period, Haaland looks like the virgin bride everyone wants to lay. Rightfully so.
The only thing that can work is putting 3 CBs on him, and park the bus. Beyond that, have fun.
They don’t win the game without him yesterday. Don’t think its as open a question as you suggest. Football isn’t complicated; a team that creates a lot of chances and a striker thats very good at putting away said chances will almost always work out. May not sound as fancy as false 9, hybrid winger, inverted CB, convulated DM, but its how its been for ages and will continue to be so.
This. City were already the best team in the world. They already had one of the 3 or 4 best attacks in the world. Haaland changes their dynamic and whether that makes them better remains to be seen
The first goal yesterday was scored without Haaland's contribution. It's not like City has no means to score without him. I absolutely think it's possible that they could have won with or without him.
Haha i mean i’m not sure how to respond to that. The guy scores a match winning hattrick, has 6 in 4 in a new team and league, and you’re saying “Its not like they can’t score without him, its def possible they wouldve won without his match winning 3 goals” I mean you can literally say that about any player and performance, its not really based on anything besides your opinion haha.
Pep obviously was extremely happy with his contribution and that is enough.
Sure it's an opinion, just like yours
And of course he had a very good game and of course Pep was happy with him - but my opinion that they might not have needed him for that game is basically based on the league tables of the last few seasons. You don't get that amount of goals and points when you don't have means to score.
If he makes the team better will have to show in the end - do they win the league? Finally the CL? They have to do that to be better than before and that's extremely hard. That's not arguing in any way against Haaland's quality, but just keeping in mind the extremely high level City already had before his arrival. Truly improving that is hard.
Peter Beardsley says thanks, BTW.
So many people are still on denial in this thread
He's going to Score tons of goals this season. If he ends up scoring more than he did in Bundesliga the Bundesliga is turd thread title needs to be changed to Bundesliga > EPL
He's going to Score tons of goals this season. If he ends up scoring more than he did in Bundesliga the Bundesliga is turd thread title needs to be changed to Bundesliga > EPL
He didn't play for the strongest team in Bundesliga though.So many people are still on denial in this thread
He's going to Score tons of goals this season. If he ends up scoring more than he did in Bundesliga the Bundesliga is turd thread title needs to be changed to Bundesliga > EPL
BBC MOTD showed his heat map for Man City. He basically has zero presence outside of the box and he has may be 8 touches in a game. He obviously play as a poacher in Pep's system and does not involve in any build up or link up play at all.
That’s not what we were talking about. If United were the best club around right now, he’d be signing for us. This insinuation that he wouldn’t ever join United because he’s a City fan or due to some Roy Keane vendetta is a steaming pile of bs.
If he continues like in the first 4 games, his "zero presence outside of the box" will count for 28.5 goal points by the end of the season. Harry Kane had 28 in total.
No idea why we didn’t offer this guy 1m a week. If there is anyone in world football you pay whatever it takes, it’s this guy.
If he continues exactly like he’s done in the first 4 PL games and plays 75% of the time, he’ll end the season with 46 goals and 8 assists in the PL alone…..Not saying that’s gonna happen, but that’s how effective he’s been so far…
Some people need to watch some old Ronaldo videos from when he was Haaland's age and then go touch some grass. I'm talking about those who are putting Haaland on a pedestal and acting like there's something special or too out of the ordinary about him. Even when compared to current young strikers of similar profile, he's nothing special. Give Vlahovic similar service and he's scoring just as many, if not more goals. Nunez is going to score loads of goals for Liverpool.
People are placing Haaland at a level he's not at yet. I feel the same way about Mbappe.
People are placing Haaland at a level he's not at yet. I feel the same way about Mbappe.
City look a worse team for me with Haaland in the team. Just don’t flow in the same way. They’ve always scored buckets of goals, and created buckets of chances, but they aren’t controlling the games in the same way as they were because he doesn’t contribute at all to their general play. That means the philosophy of defending by having endless possession, isn’t quite working as well. That’s exposing their defence more which is why they are conceding goals like crazy.
Haaland is always going to score goals. It’s all he does. All he can do. And he’s bloody good at it. I think ultimately he will make them more predictable, but he’s also going to rack up some massive numbers against mid and lower table sides. I also venture that he’ll spend half the season on the treatment table. He looks too big, too heavy, too ungainly, not to pick up a ton of soft tissue injuries.
I watched the Palace game and watched City labour as it was like they were playing with ten men. He wasn’t involved at all. Then he scored a five yard header put on a plate for him. Then a three yard tap in, put on a plate for him. And the hype started. If it wasn’t for the City machine, he’d have been easily nullified in that game. His third goal was a nice finish.
He’s obviously a deadly finisher, but I don’t think he makes City better for the style of football they play.
Haaland is always going to score goals. It’s all he does. All he can do. And he’s bloody good at it. I think ultimately he will make them more predictable, but he’s also going to rack up some massive numbers against mid and lower table sides. I also venture that he’ll spend half the season on the treatment table. He looks too big, too heavy, too ungainly, not to pick up a ton of soft tissue injuries.
I watched the Palace game and watched City labour as it was like they were playing with ten men. He wasn’t involved at all. Then he scored a five yard header put on a plate for him. Then a three yard tap in, put on a plate for him. And the hype started. If it wasn’t for the City machine, he’d have been easily nullified in that game. His third goal was a nice finish.
He’s obviously a deadly finisher, but I don’t think he makes City better for the style of football they play.
They conceded only from set piece against Palace though.
That third goal, where he essential carried a grown CB on his back while receiving that ball at speed … that was FIFA create-your-own-player cheat code type stuff.
My only reservation for him, long term, is that he has an unusual curve to his upper spine that runs in the males of my wife’s family. His may be no big deal, but in others it creates a condition where early degeneration, arthritis, and muscle problems in the back become huge issues. Of course that isn’t usually til their late twenties at earliest…I just found it curious.
The best way to deal with Haaland is the same as all super great players: hope he forces a move to Madrid and then hopefully the next time you have to worry about him is a CL final.
My only reservation for him, long term, is that he has an unusual curve to his upper spine that runs in the males of my wife’s family. His may be no big deal, but in others it creates a condition where early degeneration, arthritis, and muscle problems in the back become huge issues. Of course that isn’t usually til their late twenties at earliest…I just found it curious.
The best way to deal with Haaland is the same as all super great players: hope he forces a move to Madrid and then hopefully the next time you have to worry about him is a CL final.
I think he’s that good if he signed for United this season he would have pushed us to title contenders. Unbelievable player and City are very lucky to have landed him. It’s painful to see him playing for them. Hopefully he will join Real in two years time.
Palace played with 3 CBs, so it's going to be tough for any CF to just do on their own. And Palace scored from two set pieces that were totally against the run of play, so it was an odd match.
City have developed two title winning teams under Pep - one with Aguero and one without. Jesus was good for them, but City won so many times last year and the previous year without an out and out CF. Now with Haaland, it's another team that will develop. Aguero and Haaland are much different players, but they are at minimum, CFs who are a handful and they score goals.
So if Haaland is out through injury, City won't miss a beat. They also have Alvarez and by most good accounts, he's very Aguero-lite. I think we should just recognize that this guy is a freak and he's a very unique player. His physicality is very much in line with the league. Look back at his movements and moments against West Ham. He takes up so much space in the box and his movements are so pronouced because of his size and quickness. He made Zouma look small.
Little tip: Look up his CL stats. Then look up CRs at age 22. Before you write any more nonsense.
Absolute monster.
This dude not giving up is hilarious and entertaining
.As for Haaland, well there is a reason why he along with Mbappe is seen as the next best players of the world title holder given now Cristiano and Messi are in the final lega of their career.
Not fit to lace rvn boots yet!
Does he remind anyone of Alan Shearer? Similar style of play
And people told Ronaldo wouldn't be a success at City. If there is a side built for finishers, it's City. Ronaldo would have scored bucket loads . As much as I want us to sell him this summer, the city move would have hurt more.
They have already had Aguero. It's not like the idea of them having pure goal scorers is new.
not going to happen, city don't need the money unless he runs down his contract and goes on a free.
He will be leading goalscorer for years to come if he escapes injury.
Apparently he has a release clause in his contract that kicks in 2 and 3 years from now. Haaland will probably stay if he's happy and the trophies are filling up his closet though. I guess we'll see.
He has a release clause that'll be active in 2/3yrs
Barcelona and Real Madrid will always have a unique level of pull these oil clubs will never have. Even Mbappe will eventually leave for Spain despite that fat contract
This release clause was never confirmed.
And I still don't understand how it is possible that United haven't made him function yet. He is an amazing player!
Theres always some people who always try to put special generational talents down and compare them to other players who are good but wont reach the same heights
Think of ronaldo and the many people who said quaresma was going to be better for example
Source? Seems like just rumors
Was reported by Sky Sports back in May with numbers around 150M+ mentioned.