Erling Haaland: TV expert makes devastating judgment about city strikers

Soccer International

The current headlines about Erling Haaland show how fleeting hype can be in football. In the first half of the Premier League, the English media could hardly believe what a super striker Manchester City signed from Dortmund, but now, after a few less good games, the first criticisms of the 22-year-old are loud.

City lost 2-1 to city rivals Manchester United on Saturday. Haaland, who had previously been unstoppable by almost no Premier League defender for months and scored an incredible 21 goals in 17 games, played surprisingly poorly and only managed two shots on goal.

United just one point behind City

Great rivals Manchester United, who have been doing perfectly since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, are now just one point behind second-placed City. After the game, there was great criticism of Pep Guardiola’s team – a TV expert shot at Erling Haaland.

Former German international Didi Hamann, who played 71 times for City from 2006 to 2009, put forward a steep thesis on Twitter. “Man City was a better team without Haaland, even if he scores 40 goals a season,” writes the often polarizing expert.

Hamann does not comment further on his statement in the comment column of the tweet. His statement is probably based on the assumption that the eleven best players in the squad do not necessarily form the best team. After all, tactics are usually more important in football and it is often more important to combine the right types of players – even if they are not automatically the best players when viewed individually.

Haaland has changed Guardiola’s system

Didi Hamann shouldn’t doubt that there are hardly any better strikers in the world than Erling Haaland. The fact that he still sees him as a weakness for City can only be justified from a tactical point of view with Haaland’s style of play.

Guardiola let his team play without a beefy centre-forward like Haaland for years and had great success with it. With Haaland as a striker, the Citizens’ style of play has changed – worse, Hamann thinks.

If further bankruptcies follow the derby defeat against United, tactical inventor Guardiola can be trusted to adapt his system. Instead of Haaland, the Argentinian Julián Álvarez could play, who is more suited to the classic Guardiola system in terms of player type. The 22-year-old impressed as Lionel Messi’s strike partner at the World Cup in Qatar and made a significant contribution to Argentina’s title win.