Erling Haaland

Haaland to Barcelona might become a reality. I can really see him thriving there, but fortunately they cant afford him. Not yet atleast

Nope, Barcelona is broke!

Haaland would've scored much more goals in a team like Madrid or even farca.

But pep the hipster has much success staying true to his ways so I can't say he's been wrong.

Turok_TTZ wrote:Haaland would've scored much more goals in a team like Madrid or even farca.

But pep the hipster has much success staying true to his ways so I can't say he's been wrong.

Any other manager would make his life easier. It almost feels like an exaggeration to say that he's playing football, these days Even a mid-table club would do him a world of good in terms of being able to utilize his skill set.

As for Pep, I assumed the idea was for Haaland to be some kind of wildcard that would ghost through games and act as a decoy that would open up space for Foden, Silva, Grealish and KDB, then pop up from out of nowhere to score scrappy, clutch goals when no one expects it.

As a game plan, that would go some way in explaining why Haaland has been playing in such an extremely subdued role, but it makes no sense to play in such a way when it doesn't work against the teams that matter. And Foden proved to me yet again that when City aren't comfortably beating the opposing team, all he ever does is pass the ball backwards and fire the ball into the stands.

Maybe Pep's plan isn't a bad idea when you want to win league games, but considering the quality of the teams that he's managed in his career, you'd think he'd perform better in the CL considering the genius status that's commonly associated with him.

Vibe wrote:Pep sure does love to use a Ferrari like a Fiat. We've seen it.

One of the reasons I love this forum is that everyone everywhere is shitting on Haaland, live, internet, television, you name it.

But this forum knows better.

He's not totally blameless in some of these disappearing acts though. City indeed doesn't play to his strengths but his record in big moments against elite opposition is starting to become concerning. You'd expect players of his caliber to make something happen or create their own chances at some point.

farfan wrote:

Vibe wrote:Pep sure does love to use a Ferrari like a Fiat. We've seen it.

One of the reasons I love this forum is that everyone everywhere is shitting on Haaland, live, internet, television, you name it.

But this forum knows better.

He's not totally blameless in some of these disappearing acts though. City indeed doesn't play to his strengths but his record in big moments against elite opposition is starting to become concerning. You'd expect players of his caliber to make something happen or create their own chances at some point.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe he did that at his two former clubs. Again, I might be wrong, but my impression is that he's not meant to be taking risks in his current role in the team. He hardly ever uses any of his physical or athletic qualities, even against inferior opposition.

Which is quite a contrast to how he played at both Dortmund and Salzburg, where he'd get injured more frequently, but he was much, much more explosive, made regular runs behind defenses and actually contributed to build up play. Nowadays, he just drags defenders away from the usual suspects and then he hovers around the box in case something comes his way.

I haven't checked the stats, but I imagine it must be very common for him to get less than 20 touches on the ball per match, and I suspect he's been instructed to not take such risks that you expect from him since he's completely stopped doing it. Even his hold up play sucked against us, and that used to be a strength of his. I'm not sure what he's good at right now.

the xcx wrote:Haaland to Barcelona might become a reality. I can really see him thriving there, but fortunately they cant afford him. Not yet atleast

Why barca lol? He'd be used in a similar way as at City. He is tailored for madrid

4:45

Sums up my view on his development at Man City. Trophy-wise, staying at City might be his best option, but this transfer has sucked the life out of his actual football ability.

I see a lot of comments making the argument that Farfan made; that he's simply not doing enough, and he should be making more solo efforts to stand out, but that doesn't make any sense to me after comparing how he plays for Man City to how he played prior to moving there. He's gradually transitioned into a static, decoy.

100% agree thimmy.  Been worried about this ever since he joined Pep at City as you recall.  It's a tragedy.  Haaland is using half his ability (scoring as a poacher) when he's a dynamic threat.

It's not just him.  Enrique has made Mbappe static at PSG too when he pushed him to CF.  As a CF in this type of system, you cannot get out of your area as it's all about roles.  The best positions are wingers/fullbacks and CMs with this system.  CFs and CBs are completely left out to dry as those two zones are both stressed and isolated.  CBs are asked to play high with nobody behind them... fullbacks are often pushed up so any error is quasi-fatal.  CFs are asked to hold the ball, make runs to open spaces for others, and poach...  traditional 9s with limited touches.  

So if I'm a CB or a modern CF, I avoid joining any team that uses Pep's tactics.  You're an afterthought, not the emphasis.

It just makes you appreciate the rivalry between CR7 and Messi even more. Haaland and Mbappe are supposed to be the successors but neither of them really stand out. The differences between the league qualities also do not help the cause

I think the question is where will he go?

Barca would like him, but it will be 5 years before they could afford him!

Often rumored RMad will get him, but that makes little sense, financially nor futbol wise.

I would like to see him go to either Pool or Arsenal, but doubt if that will happen?

Bayern could be a option, but I don’t see them spending the amount of money it would take.

That leaves only PSG!!

as i said before, Haaland would have absolutely thrived (or reached his full potential) in Klopp's system... think of the Darwin Nunez role

Anyone play Clash of Clans? Is it actually good? I dont play it but this Haaland character looks pretty fun Even when he retires he seems to have the right characteristics to be some sort of public figure for sure be it in movies or comedy or commentary etc....

I don’t play Clash of Clans, but the advertisement for his character in that game is already annoying me. It seems to show up everywhere for me.

I think the criticism on Haaland is unfair at times. It's a fact that Pep uses him as a pinner.

One of Pep's principles is to have numerical superiority in the middle. That typically means having 4 players in the middle. The easiest way to do this, and the most defensive way is by having your striker drop deep and play as a false 9. It's a fact that Haaland doesn't have this in his game.

So he compensates by moving one of his defenders up the pitch. This has a knock on effect as Haaland can drag opposition defenses deeper which opens up more space for City's midfielders between the lines.

That's the tactic and considering they won a treble one season, and retained the PL the next season and only lost on penalties in the CL we can't really say it's a bad tactic.

I think with Haaland people are unfair because they expect him to be something he isn't. He's almost 6'6 and he's Norwegian not Brazilian. He isn't going to be this technical wizard and expecting him to be one isn't fair to him.

That being said I don't think he's an oaf. He's incredibly unselfish, and I've seen him thread some really nice passes. I just think physically it's harder for him to participate in play because of his size. Of course, sometimes I do watch him and wished he had that Drogba esque link up play where he can bring the ball down with his chest and hold it off against the toughest defenses but that's not the case.

But also in Haaland's defense there's no other striker who gets marked the way he does. He gets double teamed and he gets beaten up all games. The amount of times he gets fouled, but they don't get called as fouls because of his size is ridiculous.

Now I do think Haaland has had faults this season. His finishing has been off and that's a fact. It's not like he's missing these 50/50 chances. He's missed numerous open nets this year. There should be no excuses for that. I don't know what the reason is. Do the lack of touches contribute to him lacking concentration in those moments leading to him being more rusty idk?

Also comparing him to his Dortmund days are dumb. He plays for Man City. 95% of the teams park the bus against them. When he played against a team who played open and man marked him with one player instead of two like how he was dealt with in the Bundesliga, what do you think happened? Oh wait, he scored 5 against Luton in the FA Cup...

Do you think if he went to Madrid the same wouldn't happen? It would. It's true that sometimes he's open and City decide to play a pass sideways. I don't even know if that's a City thing or a player thing because Pep says they should find him more. But he also says the faster the ball moves forward the faster it comes backward. It's hard to know what he really wants, and I'm not surprised City haven't found their intended balance.

Haaland has high standards so this season was considered a bad season despite scoring 38 goals in 45 games. People forget he was injured for 2 months. If he was fit, and scored a few more of those sitters he missed he's probably closer to 45-50 goals, and people wouldn't be saying he's had a bad season.

I think this season is a big one coming up. The goodwill he got from the treble is going to be gone, and there's going to be more eyes on him. If he ghosts in big games and keeps missing sitters I can see the criticism getting louder. If Pep leaves, then that opens the door for Haaland potentially leaving as well. I can only see him going to Barca, but they don't have the finances to pull the move.

Players with the highest goal-per-game ratio in the 21st Century




Cristiano playerd a few hours ago, hence why I updated his numbers

Career goal-per-game ratio by their 24th birthday

- Haaland: 256 goals in 313 games = 0.82 goal per game
- Mbappé: 253 goals in 363 games = 0.70 goal per game
- Messi: 197 goals in 326 games = 0.60 goal per game
- Cristiano: 132 goals in 362 games = 0.36 goal per game

https://www.planetfootball.com/stats-tables/erling-haaland-messi-ronaldo-comparison-age-24-stats-trophies-goals-assists
https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/kylian-mbappe-lionel-messi-cristiano-ronaldo-stats-age-24-goals-assists-trophies

- Haaland's goal tally after 1234 games (if he keeps up 0.82 GPG pace): 1011 goals
- Mbappé's goal tally after 1234 games (if he keeps up 0.72 GPG pace): 888 goals
- Haaland's goal tally after 1069 games (if he keeps up 0.82 GPG pace): 875 goals
- Mbappé's goal tally after 1069 games (if he keeps up 0.72 GPG pace): 769 goals

Cucurella never had a chance

We should have that conversation

Was my dream signing for RM. Made too much sense though

Shame he hit the post with his last shot. Would've been 3 hattricks in as many games Can't help but feel a bit salty when I see how good Savinho's looking for them. Doesn't seem like a great finisher, but his ability to dribble past defenders has looked top notch, so far this season.

already one of the best strikers of all-time... Top 10, top 5 convo

1. Messi
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. Brazilian Ronaldo
4. Suarez
5. Henry
6. Haaland
7. Rooney
8. David Villa
9. Aguero
10. Eto'o

Messi and CR7 are not strikers

Ronaldo (not CRonaldo) was the best the best #9 ever. Even Zidane said so!

Clutch wrote:Messi and CR7 are not strikers

they're more than strikers, but they're also strikers... for most of their career they've been relied on to perform as strikers