admin Erling Haaland has enhanced his reputation by blowing English football away in his first season with Manchester City, but must now attempt to follow the Lionel Messi path
On the second Saturday in April, Pep Guardiola finally gave what all journalists had been waiting for in the Erling Haaland case. The Norwegian’s acrobatic volley at Southampton on his return from injury was one of his most spectacular goals of the season, but the City manager was there to talk quality. If you score your 30th league goal and 44th in all competitions before Easter, you will inevitably have to face the top two players in the game.
“If you look at the number of games Erling has played in his professional career and compare the goals in the same number of games, Cristiano Ronaldo is at that level,” said the Catalan. “As for Cristiano, it’s very similar.
“I think Messi is a better, complete player. He can play wherever.
“Cristiano and Erling are machines but that the other two guys dominated during two decades – not just one or two years – scoring and winning titles and doing absolutely everything. Erling is just 22 years old arriving in the toughest league in the world – I can talk because I’ve been in other leagues – and doing what he has done is quite remarkable.”
Speaking of Guardiola: There was a message to Haaland that he could not get carried away with a functioning season. Winning the Champions League, the competition he loves the most, won’t change that. However, the fact that he was mentioned in the same conversation as Ronaldo and Messi showed the enormous influence he had in his first season in English football.
Haaland, who has been ridiculed for his horrible failure in the Community Shield against Liverpool – his first game at his new club – has started making life difficult for almost every defense he has played against. One goal in his last eight appearances means he hasn’t made the impact he expected at the height of the season, but 52 goals after an average of 79 minutes per goal speak volumes for the striking striker.
It was certainly a goal on an unprecedented level in the Premier League and Dixie Dean’s impressive tally of 63 goals from the 1920s was also in jeopardy for some time. Since nobody in the country doubts his scoring chances, the question for Haaland next season is: Can he improve further? The question is ridiculous, but then again, the numbers are ridiculous. It may be in their favor that after two years without a recognized number 9, the municipality has adapted to running the route.
There were some awkward moments in January and February where players and team struggled to stay on one side, but everything fell into place and everyone thrived as a result – although without Ilkay Gundogan there will still be some fiddling.
When you consider how Haaland was protected to keep him fit – he was wrapped up for two of the final three league games once the title had been confirmed and often came off after matchwinning contributions – there is the potential for more minutes next season and that could well mean more goals. New opponents in the Premier League and Champions League will also give him a fresh start.
Then there is the relentless part of Haaland’s personality. City had just won the Champions League final in Istanbul when the 23-year-old as part of his post-match media duties could be seen earnestly taking in every word of advice that Thierry Henry had for him on how to score ‘100 goals a week’
If he has learned to work with Guardiola and accept that more touches in the team play can make him more clinical, the striker is on the lookout for every bit of advice he can get to take his game to the next level. A life dedicated to that without other distractions also ensures Haaland does everything he can to be the best version of himself and as he admits he is only young so there is a high ceiling to improve.
“Don’t forget I’m 22,” he said in response to Henry. “Think back to when you lot were 22 – there’s so much that you are going to learn.
“From when I signed from Dortmund to now there’s such a big difference from so many things. From how I think after games, how I think before games, how I motivate myself, how I speak to others.
“You get experience through people and on the pitch. I agree – I can develop so much more.”
Whether Haaland can develop enough to score even more goals is a huge question though despite his world-class ability. Guardiola did take him off in games last season but that was to protect him for future matches.
It was a remarkable effort that the big man missed as few games as he did, especially after his problems in his final year at Dortmund, and while City have a top performance team working to minimise injuries it requires luck to avoid them completely. City would bite your hand off now to be offered similar availability for Haaland this season.
There is also the fact that he will now be a doubly – if not triply – marked man. Whatever mystery he held arriving on these shores unproven in the toughest league in the world, now every club knows what he is about and every centre-back will want to be able to say they have kept the deadliest striker in world football from scoring against their team; Arsenal were pretty satisfied at Wembley after keeping him quiet.
https://get-latest.convrse.media/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.manchestereveningnews.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ffootball%2Ffootball-news%2Fman-city-erling-haaland-messi-27481192&cre=bottom&cip=27&view=web
That includes opposition sides making any contact from the physical forward clear to the referee at every opportunity. Brighton were not happy that Haaland was allowed to shoulder-barge a player off the ball to score at the Etihad, and in the reverse fixture the goal machine saw a goal chalked off for the slightest shirt-pull.
“If it’s disallowed, every action to Erling Haaland by all central defenders is a fault,” Guardiola fumed after that match. “Every action – and we saw one or two [here].”
It is one almighty challenge for Haaland to better last year’s record-breaking numbers, but this is what the very best in the world have to do year upon year. It is what City have managed near enough each time under Guardiola, and it is what Messi and Ronaldo did for a decade at the very top of the sport.
There has never been any doubt from the team that support him that the very top of the game is where Haaland not only wants to be but to stay. His face on the front cover of the most popular football game suggests he has achieved the first half of that.
Another record-breaking season with the Treble winners would go some way to the second half of it as Haaland looks to grow his reputation in the game as one of the best ever seen. Even if not much is said about it in press conferences, he can count on the full support of Guardiola for that.
