Erling Harland Manchester City The legacy will never be set after a game in the Community Shield, and it certainly won’t be sealed after a Premier League game in August. Whether his time at the Etihad proves legendary or substandard will be sorted in due course. However, his move from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City has come under intense scrutiny and under Guardiola he is under enormous pressure and will be in the spotlight with every performance he makes. His first Premier League experience couldn’t have been better.
With converted penalties and a clinical finish on a lightning-quick counter-attack, Haaland proved his worth in Sunday’s season opener in a 2-0 win over West Ham. His double, which accounted for City’s two goals of the day, may quell some of the early anxieties surrounding his 16-touch, missed sitter’s performance against Liverpool last weekend.
The clumsy Norwegian fired on the penalty, which would lead to City’s opener. Guardiola was impressed by his desire to take penalties, not to mention his ability to convert. It’s admitted that City’s ceiling – and that’s how it is for a club that has won four of the last five Premier Leagues – must rise under Haaland, so goals and victories must flow. . Despite his horrendous scoring record (86 goals in 89 appearances for Dortmund), every game cannot be a masterpiece, but on Sunday he donned a shirt that looked a lot like Dortmund , at least quelled the criticism.
“I know how he has dealt with a lot of criticism this week,” Guardiola said after the game. “He’s really calm, he trains really well, but the way he takes the ball from the free throw I’m like, ‘I like it.’
“So direct, I think if someone catches the ball, even if they’re his teammates, he’ll hit them in the face! That’s a good sign. So confident, I love it.”
His second showcased the kind of devastating player he can be in the open field. Last summer’s transfer superstar Jack Grealish got into action and Kevin De Bruyne finally broke the defence with a signature through ball to find Haaland. Walk behind his sign. He doesn’t even need to touch the ball before he’s ready to shoot, that’s the weight of the pass, that’s the skill needed to score. Instead of trying to get around the goalkeeper, he spread his hips and calmly raised the back post with his left hand. For a club that didn’t really have a real striker last season, it can now be said that it has the best player in the game, and when needed, he can show.
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“Erling scored two goals, it’s important for him, the team and us, it’s another weapon we have right now,” Guardiola said. “But at the same time, he’s not going to solve all of our problems. Question, he’ll add something to us as a team. That’s what we’re looking for.
“Today, both of their goals were in front of the defensive centre and we felt we could find more of him.
“We didn’t have a reference like him in the past and now we have, but at the same time the players have to put the ball there, especially in transition. It was an unbelievable second goal for Jack and an unbelievable The action. The ball came to him, he got the ball, got the ball and found a pocket, and when that happened to Kevin, there was only one man and it was hard to stop.”
Haaland has twice as many touches against West Ham as he does against Liverpool, and over time he’ll get closer to the game he’s really being judged on – the Champions League knockout stage, and in theory he’ll even fit in more It’s his new environment and his new league. No matter how many goals he has scored in the league, he is a player who will be asked questions every step of the way. But on a weekend, when Liverpool dropped points and United lost at home to Brighton, City moved on. As far as debuts go, like Haaland’s meditative celebration, his calm and serenity couldn’t have been better.
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