Champions League: Why the criticism of Erling Haaland at Man City continues

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At Manchester City, Erling Haaland continues exactly where he left off in the Bundesliga at Borussia Dortmund. He scores goals on an assembly line: In 18 league games he scored 26 times. In total, he has made 31 competitive appearances for Manchester City, scoring 32 goals.

Actually, there would be no reason for any criticism or even the slightest bit of grumbling. The 22-year-old Norwegian does what he’s paid to do: score goals.

And despite this incredible goal rate, the criticism of the star striker does not stop before the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against RB Leipzig. Instead, it comes from more and more sides.

Haaland responds to the discussion with humor

Dietmar Hamann, former Bundesliga and Premier League professional, even believes that Manchester City would be a better team without the Norwegian – even if he were to score 40 goals. Jamie Carragher, a legend at Liverpool FC, took the same line and tweeted that City with Haaland were a worse team than last year.

Because Haaland doesn’t hit, he’s actually useless for Pep Guardiola’s game. Because he is not a type of player who can drop onto the flanks or into midfield to at least collect a few ball contacts.

Already at the beginning of the season, Haaland and his teammates were still very strange. He had just eight touches in 72 minutes during a game against Bournemouth in August. The discussion initially flattened out because of his goals, but became topical again in January.

Because in the 2-1 derby defeat against Manchester United in mid-January, he managed just 19 ball actions in 90 minutes and didn’t even shoot at goal. An even worse statistic came in early February when they lost 1-0 to Tottenham. There Haaland had zero ball contacts in the penalty area and zero shots on goal in 90 minutes.

The 22-year-old responded to the allegations with humor last September. “My dream is to touch the ball five times and score five goals”, Haaland said at the time. However, the debate always remained in the back of many observers’ minds.

Ex-star striker Thierry Henry has specific advice for Haaland

In order for these discussions to disappear at some point, former Premier League star and top striker Thierry Henry had clear advice for the Norwegian on the sidelines of the Champions League broadcasts on CBS last Tuesday.

Henry’s former coach Arsène Wenger would have asked him during his time: “What can you do if your team doesn’t feed you balls? Ask yourself what you can do to improve your teammates’ skills when they’re not targeting you.“

Thierry Henry became English champion with Arsenal and won the Champions League with Barcelona.Image: AP / Martin Meissner

Haaland would currently lack these thoughts. “He always makes the same runs – no matter who is on the ball,” criticizes Henry. He wouldn’t help the team like that. For the former star striker, however, it is also evident that coach Pep Guardiola is working to find a solution to the problem – because they need him in the top games against teams at eye level.

“In big, important games, he doesn’t touch the ball very often and his team-mates can’t find him.” Even if Haaland is primarily measured by his goals, Henry makes it clear: “It’s not always about goals, it’s about what you can give the team.”

Still, the Frenchman doesn’t share Hamann and Carragher’s view that City would be a better team without him. “They’ve become more predictable, but that doesn’t mean you can just defend them.”

But once the city stars find Haaland in the penalty area, then you are “dead” as an opponent. Because: “In the air, on the ground, with a karate kick – whatever – he will score.”

Gündoğan cannot understand the debate about Haaland

Haaland’s teammates, on the other hand, can only understand the debate about his few ball contacts to a limited extent.

“Nobody says anything about Erling if he scores and we win. And if we don’t win and he doesn’t score, suddenly it’s a problem? ‘Do we play better without Erling?’ I hear that all the time. But nobody complained when he scored 25 goals,” said full-back Kyle Walker.

The 32-year-old reveals it’s difficult for any player to fit into the team as coach Guardiola demands so much and they have a unique style of play.

Erling Haaland (right) celebrates a goal with his teammates.Image: AP / Kin Cheung

Sky expert Gary Neville is therefore responsible for many more Haaland players. “The number of runs he makes that gets ignored is incredible.”

İlkay Gündoğan also sees things similarly to Kyle Walker and explains that they have already played outstanding games with Haaland. “I can remember that a few weeks ago everything was being hyped.”