City are a better team without him.
Nordic Ghost Yeti | Haaland at City
- Thread starter Samid
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An unpopular opinion that's not so unpopular ATM. I've been saying it for some time City play better without Haaland. Yes he scores lots of goals but doesn't do anything much besides that. In important games he hasn't scored and sure looks like a liability.
I really don't see that part of his game honestly -- Pep tactics or not. With guys like Mbappe, Messi, Ronaldo or even Neymar / Suarez, 5 mins in and you'll know they're special even if you don't know anything about football. I think if there's any redeeming factor there Pep will use it.
He'll be around in the GOAT discussions by the time he hangs up his boots and he'll probably bang in as many as Ronaldo but don't really think anyone will feel he was as influential as either Messi / Ronaldo. Maybe Mbappe has that chance if he goes to Real and gets France a WC. Let's see.
it’s mental to say it, and at any other team would be ridiculous. But the way Pep sets everything out, they would arguably be better just getting another attacking player on the pitch who can contribute in the buildup and play that intricate passing.
Alvarez was really good up front for them, now he looks less effective when being paired with Haaland. He may not be a better goalscorer or even necessarily a better player, but he is a better fit for the football City play. Haaland stretches the defence and occupies defenders, but he just isn’t involved enough - it seems not uncommon for him to have games with less than 10 touches. If he is scoring 3 of them then that is one thing, but that was never going to be sustainable.
I just don’t like the kind of player he is. Very limited, but just a stat machine. From what I’ve seen of both I think Hojland could be the better player long term.
Højlund is the better footballer. Haaland is the better finisher. Højlund could develop into a nice combination of being a good all round footballer and top goalscorer.
He's missed a lot of chances this season. Still has 16 league goals but really needs to be hitting a goal a game or man of the match in key games to be in contention for the best player awards given other limitations in his game.
Let’s not go too far, they’re operating in different worlds.
City don't need him the majority of the time, he is really just there for the small handful of games during a season were they come up against actual competition. However he is going to continue to smash scoring records.
Most games he doesn't score will be shocking performances, due to how uninvolved he is.
There was never much currency in the "his presence means everyone else thrives" claims. You won't miss him when and if he leaves. And he won't last more than three seasons at Madrid either before they get tired of his one note shtick.
He will always score goals and break records but I think if Guardiola decides to stay at City for the foreseeable future he'll end up getting rid of Haaland in the next few years.
He will score hundreds of goals but I won’t remember a single one
Hojland is only just starting out. Think he has potential to be a better more rounded overall player even with less goals.
That’s so true. Love that.
A cheating mans boring robot.
He's such a thoroughly underwhelming footballer.
He has fewer goals in his career than Haaland had last season. Haaland is only 2 years older.
Over 2.5 years older if we are being petty.
Yep.
I think Haaland scored 4 goals last year in a single CL game and I was eager to watch the highlights because of it. Not a single goal was memorable.
I want to Halland to spectacularly fail as much as anyone, but don't get this criticism... you just fear and expect it to come back and embarass the comments in a few weeks time.
True but at Hojlund’s age, Haaland also scored more goals in than Hojlund’s entire career too, 41 for Dortmund. If Hojlund reaches the level of Haaland in even one season of Haaland’s career so far, we will all be delighted.
Why does he attempts stupid karate kicks at simple headers, annoying arrogant ugly cnut.
All he ever does is hoover up the back post tap-ins and penalties that City were perfectly capable of scoring anyway.
They scored 99 goals the season before he arrived. Then 'added' the goals of this record breaking cheat code striker and scored 94, while winning all their big cup games in spite of him rather than because of him.
Even before he had kicked a ball for City, many people were predicting that exact outcome - he'd get a ton of goals himself, but City wouldn't score more in total. Still, it's hard to really point the finger at him yet, considering the fact that they won everything they could win in his first season there.
In terms of his performances in the important games, I do seem to remember him bullying Arsenal in a must-win game, when they were reeling them in.
I don't think he will develop much as a player, even though he is only 23. I can't see him becoming a fantastic hold-up player, or being very effective dropping deep like Kane. He is that goal poacher type, and he has almost perfected that already.
Wouldn't be surprised if he regresses over the coming seasons.
I almost hope he breaks Ronaldo's scoring records (away from City) just for the fan boy meltdowns.
Get ready for his future fanboys who will be much worse than Ronaldo's. Haaland seems like a out of touch human being with no style and charisma whatsoever.
What do you mean by "out of touch human being"? Curious.
I agree he's a bit of a one dimensional boring player.
Off the pitch he comes across as quite charismatic.
https://youtube.com/shorts/olDD3jP1LRU?si=59gGnzgwn6kDI633
His reactions to the bad referee decisions, etc. He is not very likeable bloke.
It’s not a surprise that he doesn’t thrive in City’s setup, where he is reduced to just a finisher.
He was an absolute menace when playing for Dortmund when he had a bit of space to use his pace or his strength to get in 1v1 to either score or create a bit of chaos in the defense.
For City as a 9 you either need to drop and play one touch passes, or hang around the penalty area waiting for the ball, which really don’t play to his strengths.
We have a bit of a similar problem with Hojlund where we don’t play to his strengths. These guys will still find ways to score but will have underwhelming all round performances
He was an absolute menace when playing for Dortmund when he had a bit of space to use his pace or his strength to get in 1v1 to either score or create a bit of chaos in the defense.
For City as a 9 you either need to drop and play one touch passes, or hang around the penalty area waiting for the ball, which really don’t play to his strengths.
We have a bit of a similar problem with Hojlund where we don’t play to his strengths. These guys will still find ways to score but will have underwhelming all round performances
He makes City a poorer team overall.
Football fans are so fickle. He will bag a hat trick in his next game and be back to being the best in the world again.
He's thoroughly dislikeable.
Pretty reductionist way of seeing things but you do you.
I think Alvarez was affected with the return of KDB, Alvarez was basically playing in KDB's position and now he looks kind of out of place.
Haaland's problem with city is he's excellent burying chances but he's not technical enough to contribute to the build up. The way Pep plays involves plenty of touches and movement to create space.
Him not being technical enough for this ends up wasting plenty of possesion so they just don't use him like that. They keep him just like a target man and that's why we see games like you said with him having ridiculously low number of touches.
Against opposition that's well packed in the defense having a player that seems so out of place in the system you've build seems odd. There's games where he's simply anonymous I know he's Haaland and they won't bench him, but having Alvarez upfront in games where they can't bully opposition would be better overall I'd said.
As I always said, Haaland is not the right striker for City.
Kane or Benzema would fit like a glove to Guardiola's system and would make City even more dominant they are now, especially Benzema, a natural born winner.
Kane or Benzema would fit like a glove to Guardiola's system and would make City even more dominant they are now, especially Benzema, a natural born winner.
He scored 50 goals or something mad like that for City last season ..
We're talking about City, a team where even Sterling, a notorious finisher, scored 31 goals a season in all competitions. City is a team that turned Premier League into a 1-team league even without a proper striker, probably the most dominant PL side ever along with SAF's United in some periods.He scored 50 goals or something mad like that for City last season ..
City with Haaland in PL 2022-23
94 goals
City without Haaland in PL
2021-22 - 99 goals
2019-20 102 goals
2018-19 - 95 goals
2017-18 - 106 goals
As you can see, City's problem is not scoring goals with or without a proper striker. If anything, Haaland benefited more from being a part of such a great team than the other way round.
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How is it reductionist? So you wouldn't take Haaland now if he was available for free for United?
There’s definitely something to the argument that they’re a stronger unit without him. He’s just so limited outside of his goalscoring, and while the idea of that being an issue sounds a bit preposterous, in the modenr game it really isn’t since centre forwards are expected to contribute more than just goals.