Nordic Ghost Yeti | Haaland at City

adexkola

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FeedTheGoat said:
But being a striker for the top clubs is about scoring the right goals at the right moments. This is the reason strikers like Drogba goes down in history as better strikers than the likes of Higuain and Lukaku despite worse strike-rates for similar clubs.
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I think that aspect honestly gets overrated by a section of football fans. It's nice to have, and given 2 similar players, it can be used as a differentiator, but consistency of performance is what matters the most. You don't magically appear at the right moments, you have to take your team to the right moments.

And for that reason, Drogba is another overrated striker that is placed with names he shouldn't be placed with, precisely because he has this inflated reputation based on how many goals he's scored in FA Cup finals and 1 CL final, but overall his numbers are disappointing. Yes, I know, "he did so much work for the team apart from the goals, made space for Lampard and co"... But would he be less of a player if he did less of that running around and scored more goals consistently?

Add Firmino to that list as well.
 

Regulus Arcturus Black

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Robbie Boy said:
You seem pretty bothered by it tbh. Really not sure why you care about a City fan saying that a City player isn't having a great season. Each to their own but I think it's odd.
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Wasn’t @justsomebloke one of the most off his rocker Ole disciples?

Add 2 and 2 together and you’ll get his nationality quickly enough I reckon. He’s much more patriotic than United.
 

FeedTheGoat

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adexkola said:
I think that aspect honestly gets overrated by a section of football fans. It's nice to have, and given 2 similar players, it can be used as a differentiator, but consistency of performance is what matters the most. You don't magically appear at the right moments, you have to take your team to the right moments.

And for that reason, Drogba is another overrated striker that is placed with names he shouldn't be placed with, precisely because he has this inflated reputation based on how many goals he's scored in FA Cup finals and 1 CL final, but overall his numbers are disappointing. Yes, I know, "he did so much work for the team apart from the goals, made space for Lampard and co"... But would he be less of a player if he did less of that running around and scored more goals consistently?

Add Firmino to that list as well.
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I disagree. The value of knowing that you have a striker like Drogba who will show up, make your team play better and be reliable those game-changing moments is massive. This made him a Chelsea legend.

If you stripped away most of his skill-set, and then gave him a starting-spot in a as dominant side as Chelsea were back then based purely on the expectation that he would find himself on the end of chances, and very little else would his output then be poor? Yes, probably. But his contribution made sure he didn't need to be judged like that.

However I absolutely agree that it is value in delivering consistently great numbers over a season
 
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heraklion

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adexkola said:
It's also why despite riding on Ronaldo's coattails for how many seasons, Benzema has an inflated reputation, as people have extrapolated that 1 excellent season from him onto his entire career... But I digress.
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You definitely know the true value of Benzema better than Real managers including Ancelotti, Zidane etc. and management plus millions of football fans. That's too much overconfidence from a random poster on a football forum, especially for someone whose views on strikers are not shared by most even here.

adexkola said:
I blame myself. When the anti-goal nerds started their crusade years ago to devalue "just scoring",
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Most people don't share your opinion on Haaland including many City fans, it seems to bother you a lot, let it go.
 
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heraklion

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adexkola said:
Thank goodness, they've upgraded the bot, it's no longer regurgitating nonsense about semi-finals and finals
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With those views on Benzema, hope you get an upgrade soon too..

Now, we have even City fans calling him out for regular ghosting, good luck dealing with that..
FeedTheGoat said:
He has had little to no effect on way too many games, especially the crucial ones, . He has been underperforming his xG all season despite us creating a lot more for him this year compared to last, missing easy chances that has either cost us results or made tight games games more difficult for us.
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FeedTheGoat

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Actually somewhat touched upon this subject in his pre-match presser for Copenhagen. Direct quote is "Last season I finished at 36 goals in the league, and this year I'm at 18 so you can think about it in two ways if it has been a good season for me or not."

Also rightfully pointed at that he will continue to miss chances and not letting it affect you mentally is a huge part of continuing to score goals at the rate he is doing it. Also thinks he needs to improve in his all-round play, but more concerned about doing it in the right moments rather than changing the way he plays. Also mentioned the United miss and said he needs to improve at scoring goals.

One thing about him is how smart, self-aware and driven he is. This is why I have no issue criticising him when I think his performances is poor, because he has shown numerous times that he hypercritical of himself. At 24 there is some obvious steps he needs to take to elevate to that next level, namely affect games more outside of movement in the box and affect games against stronger opposition. I back him to do it, and what a striker he will be then:drool:
 

Fobal

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FeedTheGoat said:
Actually somewhat touched upon this subject in his pre-match presser for Copenhagen. Direct quote is "Last season I finished at 36 goals in the league, and this year I'm at 18 so you can think about it in two ways if it has been a good season for me or not."

Also rightfully pointed at that he will continue to miss chances and not letting it affect you mentally is a huge part of continuing to score goals at the rate he is doing it. Also thinks he needs to improve in his all-round play, but more concerned about doing it in the right moments rather than changing the way he plays. Also mentioned the United miss and said he needs to improve at scoring goals.

One thing about him is how smart, self-aware and driven he is. This is why I have no issue criticising him when I think his performances is poor, because he has shown numerous times that he hypercritical of himself. At 24 there is some obvious steps he needs to take to elevate to that next level, namely affect games more outside of movement in the box and affect games against stronger opposition. I back him to do it, and what a striker he will be then:drool:
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He also looks like a great team mate, even in his role that not few times involves quite sellfish players, he is the exact opposite. He is very unsellfih regarding his style of play and looks like a fella that really wants to get along with everyone and have agreat time.
 

FeedTheGoat

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Fobal said:
He also looks like a great team mate, even in his role that not few times involves quite sellfish players, he is the exact opposite. He is very unsellfih regarding his style of play and looks like a fella that really wants to get along with everyone and have agreat time.
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Yes, he is by all accounts an extremely down to earth and likeable guy, very popular in every group he has been a part of.
 

JogaBonitoRooney

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I don't mind what Trent said about City, he should have said more. Nothing wrong with Haaland's response but he should have said more too. People acting as if he said more it would be controversial.

More trash talking the better. This is the entertainment business and these rich pawns should be entertaining us. It's not a proper rivalry unless there's trash talking. Take some hints from UFC. Ferguson vs Wenger vs Mourinho were the good days. The Pep and Klopp bromance is cringe.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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Yorkeontop said:

Is this impressive?
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Not sure how impressive it is or not, but might be moreso down to the way that other teams play against City. If they sit deep, then they're not going to have many offsides. Is a smaller team really going to play their CBs on the halfway line against Haaland? Luton sorta tried it and he scored 5.
 

giorno

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15% conversion rate on big chances. Yikes.

Never been below 50% before, for a comparison
 

FeedTheGoat

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giorno said:
15% conversion rate on big chances. Yikes.

Never been below 50% before, for a comparison
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Aligns perfectly with the eye test. He has missed way too many easy chances this year, and been painfully consistent in doing so. As good a stat as any to show that he in no way has had a good season despite blowing every other striker away in terms of goals scored this year as well.

Now, if he improves his conversion rate rest of the season and we win the big trophies we can have a different conversation. Turning a half-chance into a goal on his own wednesday when the team was just going through the motions was a good start
 
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HappyCamper

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giorno said:
15% conversion rate on big chances. Yikes.

Never been below 50% before, for a comparison
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The numbers are probably too low to read much into it as they will fluctuate alot over 20-30 games or whatever.

In xG he's on 22,27 goals in PL this season while having scored 18.
I've seen worse, and as you rightfully stated he's been missing more big chances this season, which will correlate great with eye-tests while random goals he shouldn't score too often will be somewhat forgotten. People tend to remember the big misses etc.

He's about on par in xG vs. actual goals during his time in City and about 10% above "par" lifetime which I believe is decent for a top striker.
In comparison with Messi, Mbappé and Kane who are performing about 15% above expected goals since 2014 it's a bit low, but then again you have the likes of Ronaldo and Salah who is 2% and 6% above expected goals in the same timeframe.

These numbers don't tell the whole story obviously, as there are tons of variables that might affect the numbers in either direction and also pure variance on top of that. My guess will still be that he will have performed about 10% above expected goals when his career is done and that he's currently just running cold over a small sample. That's perfectly normal and happens all the time.
 

thegregster

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Finished at this level. He is holding city back at this stage. Pep will get rid.
 

Lay

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I heard he had 6 touches in the second half :lol:
 

Maluco

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Rarely comes up with the goods in massive games . That will need to improve if he wants to be among the greats.
 

Joel Miller

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He’s useless in games like that. Actually really surprised PG took Alvarez off and left him on. Alvarez will do a bit of running, look for the ball and take players on. Haaland was a man down strolling about just waiting for a break.
 

VorZakone

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Fantastic finisher but you can tell that someone like Mbappe is still miles ahead in being able to change a game on his own. Haaland doesn't have that X factor.
 

erikcred

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Joel Miller said:
He’s useless in games like that. Actually really surprised PG took Alvarez off and left him on. Alvarez will do a bit of running, look for the ball and take players on. Haaland was a man down strolling about just waiting for a break.
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Sure, but if he gets a break, it's a goal 99/100 times. Like the Hojlund chance we had at Anfield.
 

adexkola

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VorZakone said:
Fantastic finisher but you can tell that someone like Mbappe is still miles ahead in being able to change a game on his own. Haaland doesn't have that X factor.
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Mbappe is ahead of Haaland in this regard, of course. But one need only look at PSG's CL record to see that he's no consistent magician himself, and that we are judging players (both included) against ridiculous standards that shouldn't exist outside the draft forums

Someone literally said he should have been taken off instead of Alvarez, a player who's turnovers nearly killed City in the first half.
 

Righteous Steps

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adexkola said:
Mbappe is ahead of Haaland in this regard, of course. But one need only look at PSG's CL record to see that he's no consistent magician himself, and that we are judging players (both included) against ridiculous standards that shouldn't exist outside the draft forums

Someone literally said he should have been taken off instead of Alvarez, a player who's turnovers nearly killed City in the first half.
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Haaland would be the 4th best attacker in the world for me.
 
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