That’s the thing though; that element of the team not necessarily playing to his strengths, or vice versa. And it’s impossible to tell.
If Haaland was to be a Pep style striker then why isn’t he doing it? It’s not even as if he’s trying to and failing at it, at no point has that happened. The entire spell he’s played as Haaland does. So that makes me think he isn’t being coached differently or hasn’t been given different instructions otherwise Pep would surely drop him considerably if he ignoring him?
But to that same token if Haaland is just being told to play like Haaland does then why hasn’t Pep got the team to playaround that element? When they do it’s to devastating effect, but they largely don’t.
If I was a City fan it would be absolutely maddening. Either commit to a Pep-Style striker, or allowing the final third instructions to benefit the Haaland-Style striker. This weird plan to use a Haaland-Style striker in a Pep-Style system is just odd and holding them back. Which is good news for everyone else.
It’s not even a case of dismantling the entire system to accommodate Haaland. They have shown at multiple points this season they can have their pie and eat it too with some small changes to their game in the final third - why not build on that? They seem to crack it, and then abandon in the very next game.
Edit: this narrative of “well he hasn’t scored that much really because he got a triple hat trick and five penalties” as if the triple hat trick is in any way comparable to penalties. The triple hat trick is impressive in its own right. It’s not like that Berba season where he put five past Blackburn (fwiw I am a Berba defender and think he was a good player).
