Striker Erling Haaland helped Manchester City to the treble last season and claimed the personal distinction of winning the Premier League Golden Boot. A year later, history seems like it will repeat itself, but this time the Norwegian international does so with the criticism ringing in his ears.
Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane described Haaland as “League Two standard” following his ineffective performance in last month's goalless draw against Arsenal at the Etihad, while former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said before the 5-1 victory over Luton, where he scored a penalty that The 23-year-old is “a world-class finisher, but not a world-class player”, adding that he is the “ultimate luxury footballer “.
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But is that really what Haaland means: little more than a throwback to the one-dimensional goalscorers of previous eras who did nothing but put the ball in the net?
Despite scoring 31 goals in 38 games in all competitions so far, he has become an enigma at City this season. But perhaps that's just because he's being judged through the harshest lens, as he scored 52 goals during his first campaign at the club last year. Those goals gave City the treble of the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup. At the same time, he erased Premier League greats Alan Shearer and Andy Cole (for most goals in a 42-game season) from the record books by scoring 36 goals, a league record.
Last week, defending Haaland against Keane and Carragher's comments, City manager Pep Guardiola said: “Without him it wouldn't be possible,” referring to his contribution to the team's success in England and Europe last season.
Despite spending almost two months on the sidelines in December and January with a foot injury, Haaland continues to lead the race to be this season's top scorer in the Premier League with 20 goals, one more than Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins. and City is the favorite. to win each of the three competitions (Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League) that they continue to pursue. So another triplet awaits us.
But Haaland's reputation has taken a hit recently because, by his incredible standards, he has failed to deliver in City's most important games and when he doesn't score, he contributes little else to the team other than creating space for his teammates to occupy defenders. .
He remained largely anonymous in the 0-0 draw against Arsenal, when defenders William Saliba and Gabriel combined to nullify his threat, while against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final Last week, Haaland was so dominated by defender Antonio Rüdiger that he was limited to just 20 touches in the entire game.
Counting Haaland's touches has become an obsession for those who want to identify flaws in his game. Since the start of this season, he has amassed 740 touches in 34 appearances in the Premier League and Champions League for City. Compared to Bayern Munich's Harry Kane (1,295 touches, 38 league and UCL games) and Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappé (1,691 touches, 35 games), Haaland clearly has less involvement in the game.
However, the number of touches by a center forward does not have to be high. Speaking on the 'Stick to Football' podcast earlier this year, Wayne Rooney said former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal told him to take fewer touches during matches.
“I remember [Van Gaal] “He comes in and says he wants his centre-forward to have 15 or 20 touches a game, that's exactly what Haaland does,” Rooney said. “But he always wanted to play and enjoy the game, and score goals.”
After scoring five goals in City's 6-2 win at Luton in February, Guardiola praised not only Haaland's goalscoring contribution but also his touch count. “Today he scored five goals and I think he had between 30 and 35 touches,” Guardiola said. “And this is what we are looking for.”
Kane and Mbappé contribute more to their teams because they are different types of forwards. Kane drops deep, creates space and throws long passes to his teammates; Mbappé plays wide and cuts inside, which means he receives many more touches. Haaland is expected to be a focal point up front, he will occupy defenders in the central third of the field and score goals.
In terms of production in domestic and Champions League games, Haaland has scored 26 goals with an xG of 30.16 this season, although he is inferior to Kane (39 goals, 32.92 xG) and Mbappé (30 goals, 25 .75 xG), as they both surpassed their xG while Haaland didn't, still an impressive performance.
However, for every negative aspect or criticism, there is evidence that counteracts it, such as the perception that it is less effective against the best teams. In three games against Real Madrid, Haaland is yet to score, while he has only managed two goals in six games against Arsenal. His return of three goals in seven games against Liverpool is only marginally better, but Haaland also has a career record of seven goals in nine games against Bayern Munich, which is more than respectable.
No team has conceded more goals against Haaland than the 12 in eight games he scored against RB Leipzig, one of the most consistent teams in Germany and a regular Champions League contender. No English team has conceded more goals against Haaland than Manchester United, who have conceded six goals against him, the same amount they scored against Luton.
And although his penalty against Luton on Saturday took his tally to just two goals in his last six appearances, his recent lack of goals is not even his worst run for City. Last season, when he broke so many records and finished with 52 goals, Haaland had periods in which he scored twice in eight games and once in eight games.
Despite all the goals and trophies, Haaland is expected to do more. Perhaps the eras of Lionel Messi (828 goals in 1,055 games) and Cristiano Ronaldo (885 in 1,217), who reinvented the role of attacker, have set an incredibly high bar that not even Haaland can reach.
However, look at the trophies and try to tell Manchester City and Guardiola that Haaland can do better.
