Erling Haaland had a one-game goal drought at Manchester City before to last week. With only five scoreless games before the new year—one in the Community Shield and another in the 45 minutes he played against Borussia Dortmund before leaving with an injury. Haaland has scored 27 goals in 16 games to date.
Despite starting twice and coming off the bench for 30 minutes in the last three City games, Erling Haaland failed to record a single shot on target in his last 215 minutes for Manchester City. Pep Guardiola is concerned about the spell, which could be caused by a variety of factors.
It is important to note that neither City nor Haaland have confirmed whether this is the truth. One argument is that Haaland’s absence from the World Cup means he will take longer to get back up to speed or that his injury from the Autumn has not entirely healed.
It’s more likely that after about 20 games, opposing defences have discovered a means to reduce Haaland’s devastating effectiveness.
Erling Haaland’s form this season
Erling Haaland’s prolificacy was never going to remain at that level after scoring in 11 of his first 12 competitive games for Manchester City. Especially with the fixture list becoming more demanding and injuries starting to take hold. Haaland has scored seven goals in ten games since going scoreless in the 13th game against Liverpool.
Even though they understood that Haaland is nearly impossible to stop if given the opportunity to attack a ball in the area, defenders and rival managers gradually figured out how to stop him.
Some teams have physically harassed him, with Brentford and Everton succeeding in doing so.
Others, who have fairly conceded that their defenders cannot match his movement inside and outside the box, have concentrated their efforts on preventing the ball from getting to him in certain circumstances. Brentford were successful in applying strong pressure on City once more and eliminating game-changing players like Kevin De Bruyne.
They reasoned that if they can prevent Manchester City from moving the ball out wide to make a cross and pack the middle of the field, Erling Haaland would receive less service and be simpler to stop from scoring.
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Manchester United and their defense against Haaland
United’s press against City was marvelous. They quite impressively made Haaland suffer. United were top-notch against the Citizens.
In the Carabao Cup, Southampton’s manager Nathan Jones described how he raised James Ward-Prowse to prevent Kalvin Phillips from getting any time on the ball, disrupting City’s build-up and preventing them from moving the ball forward. This tactic was successful even after Haaland was brought off the bench.
Haaland and City have merely given their rivals a 20-game advantage before an efficient strategy to counter him is developed.
Improvement in Manchester City’s gameplay
At Old Trafford, Guardiola emphasized that City’s other attackers needed to do more to locate Haaland in the penalty area. Move the ball more quickly to avoid a high press, get the ball outside and cross for Haaland to attack. Or come up with a strategy to change up Haaland’s supply a little bit more. It is evident that Guardiola does not feel that the striker alone is to blame for Haaland’s rather lengthy goalless streak.
But Haaland must also be on board with any shift in strategy. It’s reassuring to hear him talk about his season-long goals in a recent promotional film.
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland recently said,
“I don’t set any targets that I think of, I try to do all the things on the pitch and to of course play good with the team. And then when we play good as a team then the chances will come for everyone.“
“Me as a striker, my job is to put the ball in the back of the net so of course I should score goals but it’s not the main thing I think of. You have to think of playing good to do things right.”
Erling Haaland understands that he and teammates must contribute if Manchester City wants to come up with a Plan B.
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