A glorified tap inDoes that kind of goal even have a name?
Nordic Ghost Yeti (Scandi Carroll) | Haaland at City
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Sadly theres no luck involved, that type of goal will be become his trade mark in months to come. He will score similar goals like that when De Bruyne puts them on a sixpence for him.
Agreed, the cnuts will be laughing at us.There's plenty of "uhhh it hurts so much we didn't get him
Messi is absolutely the most talented player I've seen, but I don't think CR7 is any more talented than Mbappe or Haaland. I actually think the two of them are just as talented, if not more. They're far, far ahead of him in the numbers, they came out with more tools to their game than CR7 who's had to develop it over time. It doesn't mean they will have a greater career (it's tough to beat 5 CLs and Ballon d'Ors), but for me talent is the mentality, the skills, the finishing, the football IQ/movement, the ability to stay consistent, and the moments of genius, and thus far there's nothing to indicate CR7 displayed more talent than those two IMHO, but it's always going to be a losing battle to compare a legend to players in the first half of their careers.
RVN would've smashed all records had he been playing for a great side in the current era. As for Haaland, he's lethal but he's a pure number 9. Here's me thinking they've gone out of favour.
No it doesn't. Get a grip.
I think that nearly everyone who says he is just a poacher genuinely havent watched any Dortmund games. Or bothered to watch a YouTube highlight reel.
His main strength is above all positioning to break through the defensive line. Its just high football IQ. There is just no way you score at a goal per game rate in every club or national team youve palyed for without being an absolute master at reading the game. What Haaland does best is keep distance between himself and defenders, that way he is always facing the right way to receive the ball when it gets played while running at full speed. I see quite a few people suggest that because he touches the ball little, he is a liability to City, but for some reason it doesnt occur to anyone that City plays the way Pep instructs them to. Having Haaland as the final ball recepient is the feature, not a bug.
The majority of Haalands goals come after successfully breaking free from defenders to put himself in a shooting position inside the 16m area, or as a through ball. Teams just cant play a high back line against someone like that, its going to end badly every single time, so just by excisting on the pitch, teams by necessity adapt to the threat he poses for the space behind them.
This goal compilation from the Dortmund era highlights the point of Haaland being the intended recepient of the final ball. Its a mix between Haaland positioning himself in the 16m box to receive the pass, or him breaking free to either get to the ball first, or straight up creating a space for himself past the defensive line to score against the keeper. He is a striker, that the entire point of the player.
Enjoy seeing him take us apart on Oct 2,amazes me how some of our fans can be so calm about us missing out on best ST in world
The extra midfielder creates that extra passing option when building up which is what they've had before. Now it's a bit different. I think it will lead to a better chance in the champions League for them because they missed the finisher for that. But also thats why I said I'm interested to see what happens through the season.
The advantage of a bigger quality squad (and five subs should pep wish to use it) means they can be fresher as the season goes on.
But the extra midfielder (false nine) going could lead to possession not being as strong as recently (still expect dominance saying that) meaning chances for opponents.
I think for last season when they had sterling, Kane was the perfect striker due to the way he can drop deep and his passing is good.
However with sterling gone, haaland being an out and out striker will see them crush chances and teams they are expected to take care of.
Think haaland could be the difference between another semi final loss and actually winning the CL
For another discussion I am really intrigued to see if haaland is rotated at all. Pep tends to swap players here and there but it looks like haaland will be name number one or two on the team sheet and will likely play every game
Our fans are in love with him, that's obvious. To be fair, I was reading RAWK and other forums and it's the same shit over there. His fanboys are popping up everywhere; in the places you least expect them. It’s becoming more and more like a cult.
All this fawning and he's yet to face a serious club this season.
When Ronaldo was 21-22 people already debated if he was better than George Best ever been, Mbappe is nearly 24 and yet to be the undisputed best player in the world, In fact, He's inferior to players that a 30s Ronaldo (past his prime) made a second fiddle.
Haaland isn't even in the same bracket, His overall game is average at best.
Although he is a City player I find it hard to dislike him, in a world of insufferable normie boring footballers, his nonchalant and awkward demeanor is quite endearing, he gives no fecks at all, plus a supreme footballer to boot.
I like the lad, too bad he’s playing for the wrong club in the right city, oh well.
I like the lad, too bad he’s playing for the wrong club in the right city, oh well.
CR7 rose up in a transitioning era. Zidane/R9 era was declining/over, R10's partying days caught up to him, the competition isn't the same as far as individual awards as what Mbappe or Haaland are growing up into. The fact is Mbappe at 19 had more goals in knock out world cup games than CR7 (or Messi for that matter) have in their entire careers. In the CL, CR7 isn't even registering close to either of them at the same age, assists or goals in Mbappe's case. I mean they were comparing Mbappe to Pele at 19, so the whole George Best bit is as silly as the Pele comparisons, that's just media hype and doesn't belong in the debate IMO. So being the "undisputed" player in the world in a weaker era isn't a notch on CR7's belt if I'm comparing him to Mbappe or Haaland at the same age. They're very different players, I think you can more aptly compare CR7 to Mbappe, and the comparisons don't flatter the Portugese if we look at the stats, even CR7's Ballon d'Or year. The year before that, Kaka' won and Messi was second to CR7's third, so he wasn't the undisputed best player in the world, it was very much a toss-up even back then and Messi swiftly took over the year after.
You can tell me his stats mean more because he played in the mighty PL, but that doesn't mean anything to me, he was in the best team at the time and Mbappe would wreck that league just as Haaland is doing now because it's massively overrated for players of that talent, not to mention they've scored against every English team they came across in the CL.
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Yes, a lot of good points in this post. He's a dynamic, reactive player; not simply running on linear tracks that will have him 'found out' - defenders have to match his smarts first and foremost and then worry about the stupid amount of athleticism he has. If you're a slow-thinking defender, he will have you on skates, and if you're a quicker-minded defender, you've still got to handle him and what he's presenting. You also can't switch off, so concentration is also a must.
He should have some tough encounters through the season, but I won't expect many.
Yes, a lot of good points in this post. He's a dynamic, reactive player; not simply running on linear tracks that will have him 'found out' - defenders have to match his smarts first and foremost and then worry about the stupid amount of athleticism he has. If you're a slow-thinking defender, he will have you on skates, and if you're a quicker-minded defender, you've still got to handle him and what he's presenting. You also can't switch off, so concentration is also a must.
He should have some tough encounters through the season, but I won't expect many.
Their extra man is Cancelo, though. When you have a full-back who is basically a play-maker, it creates a ridiculous proposition to even get at him, so subtle balls supplied from the phantom midfielder will be more prominent now.
City are finding their feet rather than missing a certain something - it's only September and they're forumulating a new way of playing that caters to not just Haaland but a different approach to breaking the opposition down. A system that wants more vertical action and sharp transitions into the spaces Haaland is generating with his movement and demands.
Where on earth was this debate happening?
Kimpembe in the return leg of Dortmund-PSG did the best job against him that I've seen anybody do. He basically bullied him all game. The thing with Haaland, I feel he will deal with the Shaq-effect that the NBA had where, I could be wrong, but I could see defenders being allowed to be rougher on him without getting called for fouls they normally would because of how big and strong Haaland is.
That'll be quite something, but I think Pep's power of influence will shut that avenue down if it gets too rowdy and blatant.
It would be interesting to see if it reaps dividends also, because he can just move wider and use his pace outright like light, wiry players do as he doesn't necessarily have to play touch tight to defenders to leave them for dead.
Not being a sheltered 12 year old certainly helps.
Ronaldo played as a wide midfielder in strict 4-4-2 system, At that time it was expected from a players in that position to score 5 goals a year, This is such a poor take i can't even bother getting into it thoroughly, lacking context in everything.
It's funny how you claim 2006-2008 was weaker era considering the conventionally best players in the world at the moment are post-their-prime versions of players which been in the shadows of both Messi and Ronaldo for over a decade, imo individual level at the moment is at its lowest since the early-mid 90s, Team tactics and efficiency are just much better, Making it easier to be on the scoresheets, Meaning comparing stats across generations is always a very poor taste argument, If that was the case then no player between the 50-60s to Messi/Ronaldo era is even worthy of being in the top 25 list.
Nobody ever claimed Mbappe was better than Pele, They claimed similarity in their career trajectory and maybe playstyle (Which imo isn't similar at all), Akin to Messi comparisons to Maradona in 2006. With Ronaldo the debate was about him already being better than George Best.
Ronaldo was already *much* better than Kaka in 2006-2007, He basically lost the ballon d'or because of 2 wonder games at the final stretch of the season, He finished second not third btw.
Are you just trying to will all your insane predictions (flop, fraud, lucky to score 10-15, benched by Alvarez, Pep won't know how to utilise him, another Werner, identical to Nunez) into reality through posting?
Who cares about his overall game? Who cares if he isn't as good as Pele? Teams pay for him to stand in and around the box and receive the final ball. Both Dortmund and Pep's City are teams who have traditionally played with highly mobile strikers, and yet they felt it was worth adapting their philosophy to suit Haaland. If Haaland leads City to CL success and then has a career similar to Messi/CR7 then at worst he will fall into the same tier as Di Stefano, Cruyff, Maldini and Matthaus (tier 2). Good enough for City/Real (except maybe you)/Bayern fans.
I never criticized Haaland (I'd believe his overall game is average but that's fine as long as he's doing what he supposed to do best), only responded to the poor "natural talent" argument the other dude made
Well, to be fair, I compared Mbappe's single world cup stats to CR7's entire career. I also mentioned his best season where he wasn't a wide midfielder but mainly the guy the team was built around to score, and it still doesn't compare to Mbappe or Haaland's best season, whether it's league/CL/International.
Also, the bit about coming second to Messi was from this: On 17 December, Kaká was voted the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year with 1,047 votes, ahead of Lionel Messi with 504 and Cristiano Ronaldo with 426. Again, not an undisputed best player in the world, just happened to have the best season the next year. You can watch games of Mbappe in the CL during the Madrid series for example, you won't find a shortage of pundits that would call him the best player in the world. It's completely pointless, just like the debate about George Best. I only brought up the Pele bit because one, yes he was being compared to him, and two it's just dumb media hype. It doesn't belong in a debate in comparing the two. It's worth mentioning also that Mbappe came up as a wide player, and his first season at PSG he was basically a right-winger, so it's not as if I'm comparing apples to plutonium.
Comparing CR7 to George Best (or Mbappe to Pele) is more akin to a nonsense comparison than Mbappe and CR7. The reason Mbappe became more prolific earlier is because he became better at it quicker, which shows talent.
But just to keep it on topic, while different, most of my points here can apply to Haaland as well. CR7 showed inconsistency, poor decisions at times that I don't see Mbappe or Haaland do nearly as much, in fact Haaland has near-perfect IQ for his role and that's something that belongs to talent as well because you can try to teach some people everything you can and they'll never get close to his movement and instinct. But just to make it extra clear, I don't think Haaland or Mbappe are anywhere close to the player CR7 has been in terms of accomplishments and career, but talent? Absolutely.
Yea, he is. It's hilarious.
I agree when it comes to Messi. He is in a different stratosphere to everyone else IMO. He is the player with the highest recorded amounts of assists in football history, some 40 goals behind C. Ronaldo in terms of overall career goal goalscoring for club and country combined (I am sure that he will become the highest scoring football player in history eventually unless he retires next year) while never really being a number 9 and quite frankly a 1.69 cm tall midget which has its positives but also negatives (almost non-existent aerial play or danger from set pieces unlike C. Ronaldo who probably scored 20-25% of his goal from such plays). Not to mention the dribbling ability, vision, passing, pace (early years), acceleration, free kick ability. I don't think that we will witness anything like that anytime soon (talking about decades here) and even less so in the "mechanic/robotic" like football of today and in the future.
My biggest problem with Messi was his at times questionable attitude in times of adversity and the tactical chaos his playing position (s) created for Barça as a team in the last few years. Which coincided with our catastrophic and unacceptable CL exists from 2017 onwards, expect for the 2018-19 season where Messi was absolutely phenomenal. Of course Messi was never the main problem but he nevertheless posed a challenge in an already aging and dysfunctional team whose extreme winning cycle between 2004-2019 was coming to an end. Not to mention questionable managers as well as a completely clueless president (Bartomeu) and board.
Career accomplishments are a different thing altogether, I agree. For instance no matter how good Haaland becomes (if he continues to improve which he should barring any injuries) it is very unlikely for him to ever win anything with his country. On the other hand with or without Mbappé, France has one of the most talented squads in the world and that has been the case for the past 30-40 years roughly and that is likely to continue as well.
I agree with your overall reasoning as I think that Neymar is a greater dribbler, passer and the more "spectacular" player than C. Ronaldo too.
Anyway I don't want to take anything away from C. Ronaldo as he made the best out of his talent (which was phenomenal) and his career resume is one of the best out there in the modern era.
At the end of the day it is all about taste and what you prefer as a football fan, ruthless efficiency (goals and numbers) before everything else or the "whole package" so to speak which so far, I have only seen Messi have.
I was too young to witness Brazilian Ronaldo but I know from older Barça fans who watched him during his arguably best season of his career (Barça's 1996-1997 season where he scored 47 goals in 49 appearances which wre insane numbers for that era and very unheard of at the time) before all his injuries, that he was the closest player to Messi at his best. Watching footage online from that version of Ronaldo and his first season at Inter, I understand why those comparisons are made by such people.
I cannot post links but write "Ronaldo Fenomeno - Barcelona Dribble & Skills 1996/97" and "Fenomeno [Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima] - season 96/97 FC Barcelona" on Youtube.
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that was a very Ibrahimovic like goal yesterday. That being said I can’t be the only person who felt the keeper had to do better.
But they don’t play like that anymore. They push fullbacks in the middle, and have two extra midfielders. And now their wingers ar playing much wider. And they don’t want Haaland dropping deep in build up play. They want him to drag defenders and be patient. I think even KDB said so after their second match.
Which is fine and all, but at the same time can leave them vulnerable in the back especially without walkers recovery pace. It goes to my point, having haaland now leads to a change for City as he's not going to be involved as much as a false nine would.
That's not a bad thing for them.
He's going to get shit loads of goals though. One thing I noticed at Dortmund was how powerful he was at running (eg from halfway line)
I'll be very surprised if we see that much at city as I expect city will have the ball the most and he will be much higher as a result.
One successful shot doesn't tell us anything. He has played for 5+ years; we need a compilation! How many long shot attempts and how many on target.
All these comments remind me of how opposition fans used to describe RVN.
That's very rare. He hardly does that.
He's an insane finisher with amazing instinct and physicality.
But he's one of the most boring, one dimensional players you'll see.
Someone like Mbappe is so much more exciting to watch.
Watching Haaland for 90 minutes is like just sitting there and waiting for that one/two moment(s) when he'll score a tap in/short distance finish. So painfully boring. He's what City needed though.
Stop It! ….nearly choked on my cornflakes
Your blind bias against him is hilarious.
It's just like the argument about whether Pep would be able to get a poor team promoted with a modest budget, a useless debate as there will never need to be an answer.
The Haaland that City need is prowling around their forward line on the shoulder of the last defender ready to use his speed, strength and instinct to carve out chances for himself or at least keep 2 or 3 defenders occupied trying to deprive him of chances.
He strikes a ball well and accurately when it's on the ground, acrobatically reaches aerial passes with head or feet and while not the best link up player around is not terrible at it for a man of his size.
Also he's nowhere near his peak performance due to his age and with top coaching and being around several top players he can be expected to add more to his game in time.
Exactly.
Haaland is 21st century alchemy: it's like someone, somewhere, in the middle of a full moon night, distilled l'esprit of Pippo Inzaghi and infused with it a synthetic body with the size of Luca Toni, the elasticity of Ibrahimovic, the power of Adriano, and the speed of Mbappe.
So that you have a.. thing roaming the field which can outsmart, outrun, outmuscle and outstretch any defender, and that will inexorably find the net no matter who he plays with and against.