Helping Haaland

The football world can agree that Erling Haaland has been the standout star of the season, with 32 goals in just 30 games for Manchester City. At just 22 years of age, Haaland has broken a plethora of records which includes the youngest player to score 25 champions league goals, the first premier league player to score three consecutive hat tricks at home, the fastest player to score 20 premier league goals in which he broke that record after 14 games, and there are many more! However, an athlete's career can’t always be sunshine and rainbows. Ever since football resumed after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Haaland has been dealing with a few media attacks due to his lack of involvement in games. Before the 2022 World Cup, Haaland was scoring game after game and averaging 2 goals a match. The media tipped him to smash Mohamed Salah’s 32-goal record from the 2017-2018 season, and he was expected to break that record easily. However, in recent matches, Haaland is almost non-existent: he is struggling to get touches on the ball and finds it difficult to create chances for himself. Don’t get me wrong, he hasn’t stopped scoring and in the past 13 games Haaland has scored 9 times! The issue is people were so used to him scoring in every game but he has been inconsistent and has been scoring only every other game, which is still very good, but when you regularly score multiple goals every game, people will wonder why. Nobody can say for sure what is wrong with Haaland, but I have a few ideas; one issue may be the psychological effect on him of Norway’s failure to qualify for the World Cup.

(Image of Erling Haaland via 90min)

We have seen what missing out on a World Cup can do to a footballer: Jaden Sancho was MIA for 2 months after he wasn’t called up to play for England and reports came out that he was in a bad headspace and finding it hard to get motivated to play. Norway not qualifying isn’t a shock to the world of football, but when you have stars like Martin Ødegaard from Arsenal, and Erling Haaland, you expect them to at least make the group stages. When they missed out, it also meant Haaland would not play a football match for at least a month until the end of the World Cup. Also, before the World Cup break, Haaland was struggling with a hamstring injury. Finally, another problem may be that Manchester City’s style does not suit him.

Erling Haaland played for RB Salzburg in Austria and Borussia Dortmund in Germany before moving to Manchester in June. Haaland is a robust and speedy forward who loves to press, make runs, and wait in the box for an excellent pass to put in the net. RB Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund love constant pressing, fast counter-attacking plays, and constant movement, something Haaland thrived on in games. It showed: while playing for Salzburg, he scored 29 goals in 27 games and 86 goals in 89 games for Dortmund. Manchester City love to approach a game slowly, they will press the opposition and try to recover possession quickly when they lose it, but when they attack, they like to play lethargically and try to pass around the opposition until they find the killer pass, which leads to a goal. This style of play helps wingers and

(Image of Erling Haaland via Wikipedia) midfielders, but if you’re a striker, you are standing in the box just waiting for the cross. Although Haaland is an excellent in-the-box striker, he is also one of the fastest forwards in the Premier League, and he cannot utilize his pace in Pep Guardiola’s playing style. Erling Haaland is thriving at Manchester City and is having one of the best seasons a player can have. With a bit of time, he could break Sergio Aguero’s record for the all-time top goalscorer for Manchester City with 260 goals. However, unless Pep adjusts his style to best suit Haaland, it may be smarter if Erling were to move away from Manchester City after 2-3 seasons and play for a team that loves the fast attacking style, like Real Madrid, which is a club he has always wanted to play for. But for now, the media need to stop criticizing Haaland because he is killing it right now, and he can only get better.

Works Cited

Bray, Joe. "All the records Erling Haaland has broken at Man City so far this season." Manchester Evening News, 25 Jan. 2023, www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/haaland-records-man-city-premierleague-26066425. Accessed 18 Feb. 2023.

Finney, Julian. Haaland was on the scoresheet at Arsenal in midweek. 90min, 17 Feb. 2023, www.90min.com/posts/erling-haaland-names-two-man-city-teammates-frustrating-demand. Accessed 18 Feb. 2023.

Haaland with Red Bull Salzburg. 2019. Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erling_Haaland. Accessed 18 Feb. 2023.