Although his form has been poor in recent weeks, Erling Haaland is being let down by his Manchester City teammates.
The Premier League’s top scorer has just two goals in his last 11 games, a run contributing to City losing ground in the title race and looking more like the chaotic mess we saw last season instead of the well-oiled Pep Guardiola machine we’re so used to.
The Norwegian has been an inevitability during his time at City. 52 goals in his first season, 38 in his second, 31 last season. The numbers are staggering.
Haaland’s success is based on two basic things: being really good at shooting and shooting more than anyone else. And it’s the second part of the equation that points to his recent struggles.
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Up until Christmas, Haaland was averaging almost four shots a game in the league, with over two on target – more than enough for him to bag hatfuls of goals. That’s dropped to three shots per game and one on target since then. Yes, he doesn’t need many chances to score, but the more the merrier.
Does Haaland need to improve?
Of course. After the embarrassing loss to Bodo/Glimt in the Arctic Circle he said as much: ‘I don’t have the answers. I take full responsibility for not being able to score the goals I should.’ To be fair, he’s hardly going to throw his teammates under the bus but aside from the tricky Rayan Cherki, nobody has more assists for City this season than Haaland – not the ideal scenario.
In that same interview Haaland bemoaned the number of games City play: ‘I don’t want to speak about how I feel, I do my best whenever I am on the pitch and I am on the pitch quite often because we play ridiculous amount of games.’
It’s a common problem for players these days – football is as physical as ever and every game is a battle, especially in the Premier League. Add in extra Champions League games and the two domestic cups on top of last summer’s Club World Cup and it’s easy to see why there’s a drop off for some of City’s stars.
Some online fans found the time to stop celebrating reaching yet another cup final after the midweek win over Newcastle to comment on how much better and more fluid the team looked without their number nine.
Sure, Pep Guardiola’s ideal team probably doesn’t have someone like Haaland up front, but the trophy cabinet shows that they’ve made it work fairly well up until now.
There is also the fact that despite his poor recent form, Haaland has still gobbled up 30 goals in 39 games for his club this season, so while the dip means City may not win the league, placing any blame at the Norwegian’s door feels premature at best.
The reality is that the rest of the team needs to be functioning for Haaland to destroy the opposition in the way he can. Badly-timed injuries, fixture congestion and a squad in transition have all contributed in recent weeks.
How many goals will Erling Haaland score this season?
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30-40
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40-50
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50+
Can Manchester City catch Arsenal this season?
Time is quickly running out.
Guardiola has been able to rest his star man a couple of times in recent weeks which should help, but by the time Haaland takes to the pitch against a (slightly) resurgent Liverpool on Sunday, Arsenal could well be nine points ahead.
In a ‘normal’ season, we could pretty confidently expect a Guardiola side to go on a run of 10, 11, 12 wins in a row to haul back the deficit and take the title race by the horns.
But the combination of injuries and a more direct style of football than ever mean City can no longer control games and tire the opposition out with relentless possession.
So for them to catch Mikel Arteta and Arsenal it will require a big drop off from the north London side, a more consistent ability to manage games and one or two big name players to step up.
The Norwegian needs to hope those assists start flowing again soon.
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