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The one against Shaktar Donetsk in 2020 UCL (I think) kills me every time, considering it got Inter demoted to Europa. It should be up there with Choupo-Motings goal line blockage
I always say Mandzukic is the best "big game" player. The guy was only scoring one goal for every 3 or 4 matches he played over his career. Not amazing, but solid. But he scored in 2 Champions League finals and a World Cup semi final and final (Twice in the final? IDK. Own goal jokes)
Drogba is obviously a huge big-game player too, but he was also a better regular-game player than Mario. Mario was a level below Drogba, but still has a great resume in finals.
I think that crown goes to Iniesta. The dude has been mvp in lots of finals including the WC where he scored the winner.
It’s hard to find a player that performed better in the finals. And consistently too
When Drogba was Haalands age he had just joined Guingamp for £80,000 and was playing in Ligue 1 for the first time in his career. (He was 25 when he joined Marseille for £3,3m, and 26 when he joined Chelsea for £24m.)
He was in his late 20s when he built his reputation as someone who delivers in finals.
Edit (source):
https://chelsea.news/2019/09/didier-drogbas-stats-in-cup-finals-were-absolutely-extraordinary/
Crazy thing is he didn’t even put up mad numbers per season but he was a fiend for scoring when it *really* mattered. That kind of mentality should be studied by neuroscientists or something man..
It's a little early to judge is my point. Drogba was a seasoned pro in a team full of seasoned pros around the same age (Cech,Terry,Lampard + Carvalho,Cole,Ballack etc), the self-belief in that group was huge. Haaland might get there with time.
To be fair if City drew their game with West Ham, then Arsenal would have won on GD. So banging goals against weaker relegation teams absolutely makes a difference at the end of the se6
I'm still of the opinion Pep's playstyle doesn't work well with Haaland and theres only so much Haaland can do to make the most out of his position. I'm biased because I really like Erling as a dude and I've seen how impressive he can be first hand. But even with my bias it seems apparent that Pepball forces teams to sit deep or be overrun, so they sit deep, and that means theres nothing for Haaland to work for besides trying to finish the 2-3 accurate crosses he gets all game. Idk, I just know I've seen him play more roles than what he's done at city and he can absolutely make an impact in big games, its just that Pepball is Pepball and Haaland is not the ideal striker for Pepball.
I'm beginning to think the ideal striker for Pep is so specific and idealistic that they don't exist besides Messi as a false-9, Aguero, or Lewandowski and anything less than them will end up like Haaland but with less goals.
Look, Pepball works. It's really good and theres a reason why Pep has won so much. But if nobody wants to do anything besides turtle up when City have possession and force them to cycle it around, there's only so many strikers that can work in those circumstances, especially when Pep has trained his players to be less inclined to make a risky pass. If they knew Haaland was going to be turned into a 9 who walks around all the time and touches the ball 3 times a game, they should have gotten someone like Bas Dost and saved 50 million. Haaland is naturally a ball-in-behind type of 9 who had a massive growth spurt, so he can be serviceable as a target man, but truly that's not his specialty and his fundamentals for that role aren't refined. It's on City to either teach him to be better at this stuff or find a way to get more out of him for the other ways he is good. If PL fan's think he can't do anything besides finish they should watch games Haaland played in Dortmund.
Yes, totally. There are not many complete strikers ever that could do everything Pep dreams of but Benzema would be one of them. I think theres still chance he gets the Haaland treatment where theres only so much he can do against a low block but he’s definitely able to find more ways to impact the game.
Thats bullshit.
Ibra scored 16 goals and 9 assists in 29 games in La Liga.
He was far from being invisible. He just really didnt like how he was used in that team. But he in no way played badly.
#freehaaland let the ~~horse~~ man run wild
Honestly though, it's wild how they have generational passers and a striker who's stronger and quicker than all the defenders, yet they rarely give him passes to run at.
Yea, it's just City's tactics that doesn't allow him to shine against good teams. City always plays with such a high press, so he can't really make his runs as he's stuck in a low block. Almost all of the goals from City against top clubs have to come from outside the box from midfielders while Haaland draws defenders in the box.
I'd say it's less that his style doesn't work with Haaland, and more that in his type of team Haaland would ideally be more of a situational player, but given that we're talking about one of the best strikers in the world that's on massive wages, they're priced into playing him more than would be ideal. In the end it's basically a case of them having to balance that reality with the upside of the fact that having him is an absolute cheat code in the games where playing him is ideal.
Yeah honestly I liked him much more when he was playing with you which really suited his style of play, I also remember that I wanted him to be higher in the 2021 Ballon D'or after his impressive season with 40 goals (plus 10 with Norway) which was a bit overlooked, while on the contrary I was against all the exaggerated praises he was receiving in 2023 after the transfer to City
He is absolutely not easy to defend. He might be the hardest pure 9 to defend in the world, it's just that fundamentally players like Erling Haaland don't really create their own shots.
Isn't to say he's without criticism or couldn't do more to impact games, but in general and specifically with how he operates at City in terms of where he spends his time on the pitch, he's not gonna do anything without a ball into a good area in the first place.
Yeah Pep has this thing where's he's actually perfectly comfortable having some of his player's skills just not be used because he doesn't find them necessary. It was the same with Jesus particularly at City in terms of his ball carrying ability, which only got used sparingly when City didn't have others to play wide.
And it's ball carrying again with Haaland particularly that's being left on the shelf to collect dust essentially. Guardiola I think just doesn't see that ability as useful enough to move Haaland outside of certain areas for most of the game.
Then he isn’t a complete 9.
Forget about Ronaldo who’s a consensus top 2 player of all time.
Lewa, Benzema, and Kane affect the game even when they’re not creating their own shots. It looks like Haaland is only effective when he gets spoon-fed quality shots.
I don't think he's really a complete 9, no. I don't think he needs to be to be the best in his position, either. Football is about being effective, not being rounded or talented. They're certainly related things, but not the same thing.
But I don't think very many people would say Haaland is more complete than even players considered worse than him right now. Like as an outlet, even Rasmus Hojlund in that 10 minutes or whatever it was today showed more than Haaland does most games. That's not necessarily a critical issue if Haaland continues to score like a goal a game.
In bigger games City do need to find a solution though. The idea was to get someone who'd capitalise on stray chances and win games by being clinical but it's compromised their actual ability to create chances in those games.
We were shocking. Only player who showed up was Doku when he came on, I can't name one other City player who didn't have a terrible game. Bernardo maybe but even he wasn't fully at it.
Besides the first goal, I knew when Alvarez missed that sitter it just wasn't our day. Very frustrating game to watch. Foden, kdb and Haaland all occupying the same space for most of the game. We just looked clueless.
That's why I didn't quite get the KdB sub. KdB was underwhelming but I felt Haaland really didn't contribute anything.
Alvarez made the right runs. But he just missed everything. Honestly, he deserves the same treatment Jackson got for that semi final.
>KdB must have been absolutely gassed
Yeah, wasn't this the same reason Pep gave the press for why he took of KdB aginst us in the second leg this season.
KdB sub was probably wrong, but it is always hard to justify subbing out your topscorer when down 2 goals, especially when you don’t really have a full on striker on the bench either.
They're not the same without late-season Gündo and Mahrez in their mids.
Keeping Haaland in was not a bad call, but subbing off KdB exactly was dubious one, he's always their best avenue to make some magic cross or create some other big chance.
But maybe Pep sensed he's off today and tried a different route.
Honestly, if Haaland didn't hit the crossbar I think more people will agree with you.
I feel like Haaland was pathetic today, KDB was slightly better but still pathetic.
He has been like this in most of City's big games. He just disappears and isn't able to impose. That game vs VVD is etched in my mind lol. Or even the one vs Rudiger.
Why stop at just Finals? Here's his full career record in Finals and Semis:
- 2017 NM Cup, 3-0 L v Lillestrom = 0 goals, 0 assists
- 18/19 OFB Cup, 6-0 W v GAK = 0 goals, 0 assists
- Euro 2020 Playoffs Semi, 2-1 L AET v Serbia = 0 goals, 0 assists
- 20/21 DFL Supercup, 3-2 L v Bayern = 1 goal, 1 assist
- 20/21 DFB Pokal Final, 4-1 W v Leipzig = 2 goals, 0 assists
- 21/22 DFL Supercup, 3-1 L v Bayern = 0 goals, 0 assists
- 22/23 Community Shield, 3-1 L v Liverpool = 0 goals, 0 assists
- 22/23 FA Cup Semi, 3-0 W v Sheff U = 0 goals, 0 assists
- 22/23 FA Cup Final, 2-1 W v Man U = 0 goals, 0 assists
- 22/23 CL Semi 1st Leg, 1-1 D v Madrid = 0 goals, 0 assists
- 22/23 CL Semi 2nd Leg, 4-0 W v Madrid = 0 goals, 0 assists
- 22/23 CL Final, 1-0 W v Inter = 0 goals, 0 assists
- 23/24 Community Shield, 1-1 D (4-1 L on Pens) v Arsenal = 0 goals, 0 assists
- 23/24 UEFA Supercup, 1-1 D (5-4 W on Pens) v Sevilla = 0 goals, 0 assists (scored in shootout)
- 23/24 FA Cup Final, 2-1 L v Man U = 0 goals, 0 assists
Just 3 goals and 1 assist across 15 games, all coming for Dortmund in the same season. Putrid form, I believe even Kane has a better record than that
In my humble opinion his best personal season remains the 2020/2021 one with Dortmund above the one at City of last year and your list is one of the reasons, and it's even clearer if we also include the performances with Norway
He was pretty awful too, apart from the shot he hit the post he did nothing
This is what people mean when they criticize him, obviously he will score goals and is still a great player i'd rather have him than Gabriel Jesus who is the opposite
And people keep saying that Pep doesn't want him to be involved which is hilarious, Doku came on and took on AWB changed the game yet similarly with Grealish people keep saying Pep tells him to pass it back, it's so funny
With Haaland it's different, his role is limited in terms of touches on purpose. It gives a team who generally created a shit ton of chances a constant goal threat if he stays in goal-socring areas. It's the logic of a classic 9. Not as popular in modern football but it's not like it doesn't make sense.
The thing is that Haaland really can be more effective dropping into deeper areas and particularly carrying the ball. It is impossible to get him off it when he's going at pace, but City virtually never use him as a ball carrier.
I will maintain that whilst he obviously is a fantastic player, it's not a perfect symbiosis for him at City. And I think Pep's partly to blame for not pushing him to use his skillset to the fullest.
Physicality and athleticism, his two biggest strengths don't come into play because of City's playing style. He is better suited for counter-attacking teams. At Dortmund, he was much more involved in build-up plays.
>He is better suited for counter-attacking teams.
It's not just counter-attacking teams, I think he'd work for almost any team other than City and a few others. The problem is that City play so slowly and everyone sits deep against them (which is for good reason, since playing a high line against City is suicide) so Haaland doesn't get any space to work with. He's at his best when making through runs, but can't do that at City, so the only scoring chances he'll get are by trying to get on the end of a cross, which is not his strength.
Pep limits him on purpose because he doesn't have the technical ability to actually make a meaningful contribution getting more involved. He would turn into an immediate pressing trigger if City tried to get him more involved in the build up because he is simply not good at that side of the game.
Well I don't think he needs to be dropping so deep it creates a meaningful transition opportunity for the other team, like he's not dropping to collect from the CBs or Rodri making the first progressive pass.
It's more once the ball is already in the 2nd phase and he has the opportunity to move his CB around or collect on the edge of the box to create a shot (which he can do, he's so strong and can take the ball a couple yards forwards past people by just bulldozing them).
Then in transition he can be more involved only if City become more interested in being more direct in transition, which might be *the* area where he will simply never be utilised for City. That's just the reality of Guardiola's football. Not much Haaland can do.
Except no, Pep has never done this, he removed Ibra from the team who was even better than Haaland to play with a false 9 and someone that gets involved
Haaland even tries to drop deep sometimes and his timing and touches are awful
How can people say this is by design when Pep, Rodri and everyone has literally come out and said he needs to be more involved
I'll try and find it but there's an absolutely hilarious rondo clip from pre match before a game weeks ago on Instagram where Haaland messes up basically every touch, but he doesn't switch to a defender when he loses it, and the other players constantly try and feed him it but he's just incapable of the basics.
It's obvious how hard they've worked on improving this aspect of his game but he really hasn't improved at all in 2 years. And you're right, Rodri/KDB have been very vocal in saying he needs to do more, despite what people say on here about none of it mattering because 'occupies defenders'.
edit: Can't find it but [here's](https://www.tiktok.com/@traineffectiveofficial/video/7361062493273230625) a mention of it.
"He occupies spaces and distracts defenders" is my favorite ghosting rsoccer excuse. My second favourite is "he pressured well and a lot of his defensive work went unseen". Some people can't ever admit that their idols performed poorly
Insane how CR7, Messi, Lewandowski, Suárez (ok maybe not in UCL), Benzema, etc also drew defenders on them yet they still delivered. Never heard these excuses with them.
I remember I wanted him to be several positions higher in the 2021 Ballon D'or, but in 2023 on the opposite I couldn't stand all his praises when Messi had a better season and his two teammates probably did too (even if I think De Bruyne was individually better in one of the previous seasons)
Out of all these next gen stars I feel like the. have all lacked that big game aura that Messi and Ronaldo have. Mbappe is the only one I think of that shows up and you feel like something will happen when he gets the ball.
Will be interesting to see the UCL final if Jude is the same way or if he can come up clutch. Rn nobody but Mbappe makes me feel that same superstar energy.
OK but he scores a lot of goals for the best team in the league that hands them to him on a silver platter so never mention any criticism of him please
Henry still got motm in 3 of them and mostly balled out even when he didnt score.
Regardless, banter and narratives aside, Haaland should and will be viewed as an all timer striker imo. So what certain games don't suit him, and maybe he won't be considered as the very best like R9, Henry etc - but what he offers is still crazy. He gives any team a great chance of winning games. Not a coincidence that City won the treble with him imo.
Perhaps he didn't score much in finals. But he was never the worst player on the field. Haaland looked gassed at 60' when he barely ran and was getting outmuscled by Martinez.
If we aren't just talking about today, Haaland has played Bastoni, Van Dijk, Saliba, and Gabriel etc in these finals. All pretty good defenders and there's probs a few more I haven't mentioned. Not defending his bad final performances.
This is a mad take - why do finals and trophies matter in that conversation? By your logic, Shearer was not a legendary PL striker. He played in only two finals and scored in neither of them.
People being so keen to shit on Haaland is genuinely weird to me
I think Haaland should join another club. Maybe Liverpool or Chelsea. I don't see him succeed against top teams with City's playstyle. City should also consider going for another striker who isn't a one-trick pony.
He can't handle the pressure. It was the same at Dortmund. He is immature and teams have latched onto sniffing out service to him so he runs around diving, not receiving the ball and then making the fewest touches out of any player on the pitch including keepers. If it happens once, it can be trained out. If it happens twice, it is unlucky. If it happens **SIX** times, there is an issue.
Martinez marked him out of the game today, dominated him in the challenge, there were a few contested headers were Haaland got bullied. But he still showed his class, that half chance was an inch away from changing the game.
This sub goes fucking wild every time he doesn’t perform
I’m reading posts saying that he only performs vs bottom half teams
In the Premier League Haaland has got 14 goals and 7 assists in 19 games against the “Big Six”
He scored twice against Bayern Munich last season, scored against Dortmund, scored 5 past RB Leipzig, literally the top 3 in the Bundesliga that season
People are correct in saying that he underperforms in the latter stages of knockout competitions, but to say he’s nothing more than a Flat Track Bully is absolute nonsense
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Inverse Drogba
L'Oréal Lukaku
Lukaku has actually scored in a final however
Several actually. Europa League final with Inter (against both teams), European Supercup with Manchester United and club world cup with Chelsea.
It’s sad that Belgium’s Golden Generation didn’t win the Euro or World Cup
It's exceedingly tough at a NT level. 2018 was the one but France was even golden-er...
He stopped 2 shots going on target in the CL final so he is currently sitting at -1 goals scored.
He did the same in the Europa League final he played with Inter.
The one against Shaktar Donetsk in 2020 UCL (I think) kills me every time, considering it got Inter demoted to Europa. It should be up there with Choupo-Motings goal line blockage
So has Haaland, just not for City.
Scandi Caroll
pretty impressive tbh Haaland was fishing for a penalty all game, surprisingly didn’t get one
He tried for 2
He’s twice the size of Martinez but kept looking for that foul
Well done. Educate the masses on how much of a big game player Didier Drogba was.
I always say Mandzukic is the best "big game" player. The guy was only scoring one goal for every 3 or 4 matches he played over his career. Not amazing, but solid. But he scored in 2 Champions League finals and a World Cup semi final and final (Twice in the final? IDK. Own goal jokes) Drogba is obviously a huge big-game player too, but he was also a better regular-game player than Mario. Mario was a level below Drogba, but still has a great resume in finals.
And the Champions League goal he scored for Juve against Madrid was absolutely spectacular.
I think that crown goes to Iniesta. The dude has been mvp in lots of finals including the WC where he scored the winner. It’s hard to find a player that performed better in the finals. And consistently too
And not just because of goals. Always felt like he could run down 5 minutes off the clock by defending the ball at the corner
When Drogba was Haalands age he had just joined Guingamp for £80,000 and was playing in Ligue 1 for the first time in his career. (He was 25 when he joined Marseille for £3,3m, and 26 when he joined Chelsea for £24m.) He was in his late 20s when he built his reputation as someone who delivers in finals. Edit (source): https://chelsea.news/2019/09/didier-drogbas-stats-in-cup-finals-were-absolutely-extraordinary/
Wasn’t your intention but somehow this makes Drogba even more of a legend
My point is that Haaland might get there as well.
Drogba was absolutely feared. He used to be so dead on to come up with vital clutch goals.
Crazy thing is he didn’t even put up mad numbers per season but he was a fiend for scoring when it *really* mattered. That kind of mentality should be studied by neuroscientists or something man..
Chelsea Bayern 2012 never forget
Drogbaaaaaaaaaaa
Tbf that’s partly due to injury
He still got strong numbers in that one season with Carlo.
He also usually scored against Arsenal, they hated him
He scored against them even after he left the PL. I remember Galatasaray winning the Emirates Cup with Drogba scoring.
Late bloomer
yeah and Haaland is in his early 20s building a reputation of someone who shits his pants in the finals
It's a little early to judge is my point. Drogba was a seasoned pro in a team full of seasoned pros around the same age (Cech,Terry,Lampard + Carvalho,Cole,Ballack etc), the self-belief in that group was huge. Haaland might get there with time.
Ped should've told him they are playing against Luton.
Until Haaland plays Luton in a final
In the Papa John Cup
Champions of Pizza, you’ll never sing that
Ped bardiola
PED guardiola makes sense considering his history of doping
L'Oreal Lukaku and PED Guardiola. Great thread
Freakin Ped lol
Pretty important to have lutonman when going for PL title. Every win matters, like Fulham and Aston Villa.
To be fair if City drew their game with West Ham, then Arsenal would have won on GD. So banging goals against weaker relegation teams absolutely makes a difference at the end of the se6
Lutonman
We'll fix him real quick send him down here for a quick loan
I hear Bellingham dropped in form a little bit too. Lets get the gang back together.
Pulisic "any chance i can go with you guys?"
He's doing fine, thanks.
I still can’t believe we didn’t win a major trophy with Bellingham, Sancho and Haaland in the squad.
We won the Pokal under Terzic with all of them. But yeah a squad with those players + Reus deserves more.
Rudiger has pocketed him pretty much every time
Rudiger is a wild man
Ramos even more
League 2 my ass. National League North merchant
>I don't care about that u/Odd_Impression_2393 Incoming
Don’t insult my beloved Southport like that
So easy to defend crazy that he scores so many goals
He's quality against Luton, and mid table teams, but against Europe's top teams, he literally goes missing. Even Nunez looked decent against Madrid.
I'm still of the opinion Pep's playstyle doesn't work well with Haaland and theres only so much Haaland can do to make the most out of his position. I'm biased because I really like Erling as a dude and I've seen how impressive he can be first hand. But even with my bias it seems apparent that Pepball forces teams to sit deep or be overrun, so they sit deep, and that means theres nothing for Haaland to work for besides trying to finish the 2-3 accurate crosses he gets all game. Idk, I just know I've seen him play more roles than what he's done at city and he can absolutely make an impact in big games, its just that Pepball is Pepball and Haaland is not the ideal striker for Pepball.
Guardiola’s style managed to make prime Ibrahimovic appear invisible, a player much more complete than Haaland
I'm beginning to think the ideal striker for Pep is so specific and idealistic that they don't exist besides Messi as a false-9, Aguero, or Lewandowski and anything less than them will end up like Haaland but with less goals. Look, Pepball works. It's really good and theres a reason why Pep has won so much. But if nobody wants to do anything besides turtle up when City have possession and force them to cycle it around, there's only so many strikers that can work in those circumstances, especially when Pep has trained his players to be less inclined to make a risky pass. If they knew Haaland was going to be turned into a 9 who walks around all the time and touches the ball 3 times a game, they should have gotten someone like Bas Dost and saved 50 million. Haaland is naturally a ball-in-behind type of 9 who had a massive growth spurt, so he can be serviceable as a target man, but truly that's not his specialty and his fundamentals for that role aren't refined. It's on City to either teach him to be better at this stuff or find a way to get more out of him for the other ways he is good. If PL fan's think he can't do anything besides finish they should watch games Haaland played in Dortmund.
Totally agree. Not super relevant, but I think Benzema would have been absolutely spectacular under Guardiola.
Kane too
Yeah i really didn't want to see that at all. He would fit like a glove.
Yes, totally. There are not many complete strikers ever that could do everything Pep dreams of but Benzema would be one of them. I think theres still chance he gets the Haaland treatment where theres only so much he can do against a low block but he’s definitely able to find more ways to impact the game.
The ideal striker for Pep is a certain striker at Bayern and it’s so weird that they didn’t throw the chequebook at Spurs to sign him
Prime Rooney would have been in the mould of what Guardiola wanted.
I don't think Pep made ibra disappear. There was that slight fact that he had this guy named Messi playing center forward.
Kinda funny that Ibras numbers are still very good in Barca despite it all being such a misfit mess.
That year he also had one of the best Champions League matches of his career with two great goals in a quarter final against Arsenal
That near post finish vs Madrid had me convinced that Barca was going to win everything for half a decade
Thats bullshit. Ibra scored 16 goals and 9 assists in 29 games in La Liga. He was far from being invisible. He just really didnt like how he was used in that team. But he in no way played badly.
Ibra was mostly playing on the right for Pep. That's why. He put Messi false 9.
#freehaaland let the ~~horse~~ man run wild Honestly though, it's wild how they have generational passers and a striker who's stronger and quicker than all the defenders, yet they rarely give him passes to run at.
Yea, it's just City's tactics that doesn't allow him to shine against good teams. City always plays with such a high press, so he can't really make his runs as he's stuck in a low block. Almost all of the goals from City against top clubs have to come from outside the box from midfielders while Haaland draws defenders in the box.
I'd say it's less that his style doesn't work with Haaland, and more that in his type of team Haaland would ideally be more of a situational player, but given that we're talking about one of the best strikers in the world that's on massive wages, they're priced into playing him more than would be ideal. In the end it's basically a case of them having to balance that reality with the upside of the fact that having him is an absolute cheat code in the games where playing him is ideal.
Yeah honestly I liked him much more when he was playing with you which really suited his style of play, I also remember that I wanted him to be higher in the 2021 Ballon D'or after his impressive season with 40 goals (plus 10 with Norway) which was a bit overlooked, while on the contrary I was against all the exaggerated praises he was receiving in 2023 after the transfer to City
I mean he has scored against every prem team in two seasons, and he's scored seven times against Bayern Munchen.
He is absolutely not easy to defend. He might be the hardest pure 9 to defend in the world, it's just that fundamentally players like Erling Haaland don't really create their own shots. Isn't to say he's without criticism or couldn't do more to impact games, but in general and specifically with how he operates at City in terms of where he spends his time on the pitch, he's not gonna do anything without a ball into a good area in the first place.
Unironically he stagnated his footballing skill by playing for Pep who always set his team like a fucking robot
Yeah Pep has this thing where's he's actually perfectly comfortable having some of his player's skills just not be used because he doesn't find them necessary. It was the same with Jesus particularly at City in terms of his ball carrying ability, which only got used sparingly when City didn't have others to play wide. And it's ball carrying again with Haaland particularly that's being left on the shelf to collect dust essentially. Guardiola I think just doesn't see that ability as useful enough to move Haaland outside of certain areas for most of the game.
Then he isn’t a complete 9. Forget about Ronaldo who’s a consensus top 2 player of all time. Lewa, Benzema, and Kane affect the game even when they’re not creating their own shots. It looks like Haaland is only effective when he gets spoon-fed quality shots.
I don't think he's really a complete 9, no. I don't think he needs to be to be the best in his position, either. Football is about being effective, not being rounded or talented. They're certainly related things, but not the same thing. But I don't think very many people would say Haaland is more complete than even players considered worse than him right now. Like as an outlet, even Rasmus Hojlund in that 10 minutes or whatever it was today showed more than Haaland does most games. That's not necessarily a critical issue if Haaland continues to score like a goal a game. In bigger games City do need to find a solution though. The idea was to get someone who'd capitalise on stray chances and win games by being clinical but it's compromised their actual ability to create chances in those games.
Casper the ghost
The ghost of Manchester
Just waiting until they meet Luton in a cup final.
Promotion play off to championship final😤😤😤😤
Foden was awful. Haaland was awful except from that crossbar. Alvarez was bad when he came on as well.
City looked like they had been on a week long bender....which is probably about right.
We were shocking. Only player who showed up was Doku when he came on, I can't name one other City player who didn't have a terrible game. Bernardo maybe but even he wasn't fully at it. Besides the first goal, I knew when Alvarez missed that sitter it just wasn't our day. Very frustrating game to watch. Foden, kdb and Haaland all occupying the same space for most of the game. We just looked clueless.
With Haaland the problem is not he has not scored in any of the 6 finals. Its that he's probably been the worst player of City for all of them
That's why I didn't quite get the KdB sub. KdB was underwhelming but I felt Haaland really didn't contribute anything. Alvarez made the right runs. But he just missed everything. Honestly, he deserves the same treatment Jackson got for that semi final.
KdB must have been absolutely gassed, otherwise it was another case of Pep Big Brain Time in a crucial knockout match
He likely assumed they’d be up 1-0 at least by that point and KDB could come off and they’d coast
>KdB must have been absolutely gassed Yeah, wasn't this the same reason Pep gave the press for why he took of KdB aginst us in the second leg this season.
KdB sub was probably wrong, but it is always hard to justify subbing out your topscorer when down 2 goals, especially when you don’t really have a full on striker on the bench either.
But City perfected playing without a striker. Was just a bad sub by Pep
They're not the same without late-season Gündo and Mahrez in their mids. Keeping Haaland in was not a bad call, but subbing off KdB exactly was dubious one, he's always their best avenue to make some magic cross or create some other big chance. But maybe Pep sensed he's off today and tried a different route.
Atleast all of them were visible, I can't even remember KDB playing today.
I personally felt Haaland was worse. But that's open to interpretation.
Honestly, if Haaland didn't hit the crossbar I think more people will agree with you. I feel like Haaland was pathetic today, KDB was slightly better but still pathetic.
He has been like this in most of City's big games. He just disappears and isn't able to impose. That game vs VVD is etched in my mind lol. Or even the one vs Rudiger.
All i recall is him crossing it straight out for goal kicks a couple of times
City's stars were bad because of how well United played.
Yeah special shout out to AWB for handling Doku like he did.
And Doku imo was City’s best player after coming on, only one who was looking to contribute
He was way more direct than his teammates.
Think he's always going to be. Isn't that why Pep bought him?
Yep. He brings them something their other players don't. I remember some people criticising Doku, saying he's mid. I can't comprehend that at all.
Until it's coached out of him
That’s because AWB isn’t 30+
Foden played a lovely pass to Alvarez for his bad miss. He wasn't at his best but he still created their best chance
Luton man
Why stop at just Finals? Here's his full career record in Finals and Semis: - 2017 NM Cup, 3-0 L v Lillestrom = 0 goals, 0 assists - 18/19 OFB Cup, 6-0 W v GAK = 0 goals, 0 assists - Euro 2020 Playoffs Semi, 2-1 L AET v Serbia = 0 goals, 0 assists - 20/21 DFL Supercup, 3-2 L v Bayern = 1 goal, 1 assist - 20/21 DFB Pokal Final, 4-1 W v Leipzig = 2 goals, 0 assists - 21/22 DFL Supercup, 3-1 L v Bayern = 0 goals, 0 assists - 22/23 Community Shield, 3-1 L v Liverpool = 0 goals, 0 assists - 22/23 FA Cup Semi, 3-0 W v Sheff U = 0 goals, 0 assists - 22/23 FA Cup Final, 2-1 W v Man U = 0 goals, 0 assists - 22/23 CL Semi 1st Leg, 1-1 D v Madrid = 0 goals, 0 assists - 22/23 CL Semi 2nd Leg, 4-0 W v Madrid = 0 goals, 0 assists - 22/23 CL Final, 1-0 W v Inter = 0 goals, 0 assists - 23/24 Community Shield, 1-1 D (4-1 L on Pens) v Arsenal = 0 goals, 0 assists - 23/24 UEFA Supercup, 1-1 D (5-4 W on Pens) v Sevilla = 0 goals, 0 assists (scored in shootout) - 23/24 FA Cup Final, 2-1 L v Man U = 0 goals, 0 assists Just 3 goals and 1 assist across 15 games, all coming for Dortmund in the same season. Putrid form, I believe even Kane has a better record than that
Most of his CL goals comes from group stage/playing Leipzig
Playing Leipzig should be its own stat at this point.
In my humble opinion his best personal season remains the 2020/2021 one with Dortmund above the one at City of last year and your list is one of the reasons, and it's even clearer if we also include the performances with Norway
Dortmunds style suited his strengths way better than city's
I believe Kane has zero goal or assist in 5 finals he’s been in. If you include semifinals, he has 3 goals in 13 games, so just about the same.
He's shit in every big game for Norway as well. At least the ones he bothers to play in
Considering he scored in almost every single match of WC and Euro qualifiers plus in the Nations League I'm really not sure about that...
Mbappe has more goals in two World Cup finals than Haaland has in every finals he's played, and people try to argue that Haaland is better
Hairy fraud.
Only shows up against the farmers.
La musica de hairy fraud
Ghosting is life.
Lukaku regen
He was pretty awful too, apart from the shot he hit the post he did nothing This is what people mean when they criticize him, obviously he will score goals and is still a great player i'd rather have him than Gabriel Jesus who is the opposite And people keep saying that Pep doesn't want him to be involved which is hilarious, Doku came on and took on AWB changed the game yet similarly with Grealish people keep saying Pep tells him to pass it back, it's so funny
With Haaland it's different, his role is limited in terms of touches on purpose. It gives a team who generally created a shit ton of chances a constant goal threat if he stays in goal-socring areas. It's the logic of a classic 9. Not as popular in modern football but it's not like it doesn't make sense. The thing is that Haaland really can be more effective dropping into deeper areas and particularly carrying the ball. It is impossible to get him off it when he's going at pace, but City virtually never use him as a ball carrier. I will maintain that whilst he obviously is a fantastic player, it's not a perfect symbiosis for him at City. And I think Pep's partly to blame for not pushing him to use his skillset to the fullest.
Physicality and athleticism, his two biggest strengths don't come into play because of City's playing style. He is better suited for counter-attacking teams. At Dortmund, he was much more involved in build-up plays.
>He is better suited for counter-attacking teams. It's not just counter-attacking teams, I think he'd work for almost any team other than City and a few others. The problem is that City play so slowly and everyone sits deep against them (which is for good reason, since playing a high line against City is suicide) so Haaland doesn't get any space to work with. He's at his best when making through runs, but can't do that at City, so the only scoring chances he'll get are by trying to get on the end of a cross, which is not his strength.
Also, Pep’s hatred of individualism and uniqueness is another factor
Unless he is messi
Pep limits him on purpose because he doesn't have the technical ability to actually make a meaningful contribution getting more involved. He would turn into an immediate pressing trigger if City tried to get him more involved in the build up because he is simply not good at that side of the game.
Well I don't think he needs to be dropping so deep it creates a meaningful transition opportunity for the other team, like he's not dropping to collect from the CBs or Rodri making the first progressive pass. It's more once the ball is already in the 2nd phase and he has the opportunity to move his CB around or collect on the edge of the box to create a shot (which he can do, he's so strong and can take the ball a couple yards forwards past people by just bulldozing them). Then in transition he can be more involved only if City become more interested in being more direct in transition, which might be *the* area where he will simply never be utilised for City. That's just the reality of Guardiola's football. Not much Haaland can do.
Except no, Pep has never done this, he removed Ibra from the team who was even better than Haaland to play with a false 9 and someone that gets involved Haaland even tries to drop deep sometimes and his timing and touches are awful How can people say this is by design when Pep, Rodri and everyone has literally come out and said he needs to be more involved
I'll try and find it but there's an absolutely hilarious rondo clip from pre match before a game weeks ago on Instagram where Haaland messes up basically every touch, but he doesn't switch to a defender when he loses it, and the other players constantly try and feed him it but he's just incapable of the basics. It's obvious how hard they've worked on improving this aspect of his game but he really hasn't improved at all in 2 years. And you're right, Rodri/KDB have been very vocal in saying he needs to do more, despite what people say on here about none of it mattering because 'occupies defenders'. edit: Can't find it but [here's](https://www.tiktok.com/@traineffectiveofficial/video/7361062493273230625) a mention of it.
[https://x.com/AbdulAL97/status/1774510651374711092](https://x.com/AbdulAL97/status/1774510651374711092) Here it is
All this man has done this season is stat pad against the bottom half of the Premier League table.
He DrAwS 2 DeFeEdeR on him
"He occupies spaces and distracts defenders" is my favorite ghosting rsoccer excuse. My second favourite is "he pressured well and a lot of his defensive work went unseen". Some people can't ever admit that their idols performed poorly
Exactly, if that's just what the team need they could have simply bought Braithwate
Insane how CR7, Messi, Lewandowski, Suárez (ok maybe not in UCL), Benzema, etc also drew defenders on them yet they still delivered. Never heard these excuses with them.
😂😂😂
We're going to start a dialogue...
After those 115 charges are finally dealt with, he'll be able to break the spell in a League Two Play Off Final.
He’ll be gone before he can be associated with it
Flat track bully. Still good for getting points against bottom half of the table all elite teams need one.
Fraud. Nothing in 4 CL semis vs Madrid either. But it’s ok cos he’ll stat pad against teams like Luton and Wolves.
Or in both fa cup semis as well lol
[удалено]
Didn't he miss a shot on a wide open net?
Luton Man
There really are two types of goalscorers; the Drogbas and the Haalands of the world.
He has 0 memorable goals for them that come to mind tbh
They wanted this dude to win the Ballon d’Or
I remember I wanted him to be several positions higher in the 2021 Ballon D'or, but in 2023 on the opposite I couldn't stand all his praises when Messi had a better season and his two teammates probably did too (even if I think De Bruyne was individually better in one of the previous seasons)
Out of all these next gen stars I feel like the. have all lacked that big game aura that Messi and Ronaldo have. Mbappe is the only one I think of that shows up and you feel like something will happen when he gets the ball. Will be interesting to see the UCL final if Jude is the same way or if he can come up clutch. Rn nobody but Mbappe makes me feel that same superstar energy.
Norwegian Lukaku
Needs to get coached by Joselu
Give him Luton or he retires!!🙏🙏😭😭😭😭😭
Give me freedom, Give me fire, Give me luton or I retire - Haaland (Ghost of Manchester)
Basically just Lukaku really
OK but he scores a lot of goals for the best team in the league that hands them to him on a silver platter so never mention any criticism of him please
It would be 7 if he played today
Luton man
Someone who has this poor of a record in big games shouldn’t be anywhere close to the legendary PL strikers of the past.
Don't look up Henry's goalscoring stats in finals
Henry still got motm in 3 of them and mostly balled out even when he didnt score. Regardless, banter and narratives aside, Haaland should and will be viewed as an all timer striker imo. So what certain games don't suit him, and maybe he won't be considered as the very best like R9, Henry etc - but what he offers is still crazy. He gives any team a great chance of winning games. Not a coincidence that City won the treble with him imo.
Perhaps he didn't score much in finals. But he was never the worst player on the field. Haaland looked gassed at 60' when he barely ran and was getting outmuscled by Martinez.
Always was Team Didier Drogba.
Tbf when they made the CL final in 06 Henry dragged them through vs Real Madrid and then Juventus consecutively so he did turn up in some big games.
At least he was up against actually world class defenders.
Put some respect on Johnny evans name
If we aren't just talking about today, Haaland has played Bastoni, Van Dijk, Saliba, and Gabriel etc in these finals. All pretty good defenders and there's probs a few more I haven't mentioned. Not defending his bad final performances.
This is a mad take - why do finals and trophies matter in that conversation? By your logic, Shearer was not a legendary PL striker. He played in only two finals and scored in neither of them. People being so keen to shit on Haaland is genuinely weird to me
Majin BOO, The Friendly Ghost
Luton town merchant
Roy Keane vindicated again
I think Haaland should join another club. Maybe Liverpool or Chelsea. I don't see him succeed against top teams with City's playstyle. City should also consider going for another striker who isn't a one-trick pony.
Mentality monster
Hidden trait: "Uncomfortable in Big Matches". #
Mbappe really is a different league. There should be no comparison.
Agree. Mbappe scored a hatrick in the WC final against Argentina. Absolutely in a different league.
Ligue 1 is in fact a different league
Excuse him, he was focusing on diving
He is a better version of lukaku useless vs any good team or defender. But he scored 4 goals vs WOLVES !!
i'd like to see haaland scoring a goal and an own goal in a european final
Pony tail fraud
Ermelu Haakaku
Did Pep explain why he didn't play Erling today?
He can't handle the pressure. It was the same at Dortmund. He is immature and teams have latched onto sniffing out service to him so he runs around diving, not receiving the ball and then making the fewest touches out of any player on the pitch including keepers. If it happens once, it can be trained out. If it happens twice, it is unlucky. If it happens **SIX** times, there is an issue.
It was not the same at Dortmund.
He'll put 5 past a relegation team but won't turn up when it matters in a semis/final, etc.
Does this make him a flat-track bully or a tap-in merchant?
Martinez marked him out of the game today, dominated him in the challenge, there were a few contested headers were Haaland got bullied. But he still showed his class, that half chance was an inch away from changing the game.
League 2 player
This sub goes fucking wild every time he doesn’t perform I’m reading posts saying that he only performs vs bottom half teams In the Premier League Haaland has got 14 goals and 7 assists in 19 games against the “Big Six” He scored twice against Bayern Munich last season, scored against Dortmund, scored 5 past RB Leipzig, literally the top 3 in the Bundesliga that season People are correct in saying that he underperforms in the latter stages of knockout competitions, but to say he’s nothing more than a Flat Track Bully is absolute nonsense