Manchester City – Nottingham Forest : Erling Haaland, paradoxale arme fatale

All the interest of football is gathered there, before our eyes, just a little east of Manchester. In five official matches with CityErling Haaland offered a wealth of insights into one of the summer’s most enthralling debates: Are one of the world’s greatest teams necessarily stronger after gifting themselves one of the best? attackers of the world?

From the start of the season, Pep Guardiola had felt the excitement go from one extreme to the other around the question. “A week ago he couldn’t adapt to the Premier Leaguerecalled the Catalan after the striker’s first brace at West Ham. Now he is among the best with Henry, Shearer and Ronaldo.”

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The subject deserves much more patience and hindsight anyway. But the last performance of the Norwegian giant, last Saturday against Crystal Palace, encourages nuance. In the first half, the former BVB first seemed lost in Guardiola’s XI. Sometimes even too much. Not very disciplined in the pressing, no more inspired in the game in delivery, Haaland suffered for a long time in the low and compact block made by Patrick Vieira.

Haaland has the toughest job in the world

It was not the first time that the striker left this impression. Against the Eagles, the 22-year-old only touched 16 balls. Much less than his goalkeeper Ederson (27) and his teammates, all well above 50. Before that, he had only been found 8 times against Bournemouth, and around 30 times against West Ham and Newcastle , two slightly more ambitious teams in the game.

“Erling Haaland has the toughest job in the worldestimates Guardiola. When you’re attacking and going up against defensive blocks like Bournemouth’s, it’s tough. They have three central defenders, two players in front of the central defenders and you are in the middle. How to resist in such a context? It’s very complicated, we know it and we will often find ourselves in this type of situation..”

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To tell the truth, the Norwegian did not have an easier task in the second period. But his sense of goal and his extraordinary physical power – evidenced by his third achievement – allowed him to score three goals and overthrow the match. He is (already) the best artificer in the Premier League, with (already) a small margin.

Still, not much works the way it should. The striker’s calls are still too rarely honored, Phil Foden often steps on his toes and his connection with Kevin de Bruyne is still very imperfect.

Guardiola realized the obvious

In other words, Haaland has not yet understood everything about Manchester City’s game. And Manchester City has not yet understood everything about Erling Haaland’s game. It may even never be the case. So what ? The union must first be a marriage of convenience. And demonstrate that the game and the results should neither be completely linked nor completely opposed. They can also complement each other, contrary to the idea that supporters of one vision or the other absolutely seek to impose.

Pep Guardiola himself realized this, after years of emptying his squad of their real attackers, and the observations that imposed themselves on him in the Champions League, when his formidable machine came up against Real Madrid or Chelsea. , for lack of a last piece.

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Haaland, he is also working to break away from his obsession with the goal. Never, when facing double-locked teams, has the Norwegian lost patience. “As a young player, playing for Pep Guardiola and for the best club in England, I have to keep developing and improving in a lot of things“, he underlined from Sky Sports.

“It’s not just the goals, there’s also the fact that he’s happyadded his trainer. I see his behavior and his body language. You pay attention to players body language and his is always good“Proof that off the pitch, Haaland and the Citizens have already understood each other. That’s the main thing.

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