Haaland HEADING in the wrong direction
Missing chances in the air shows Iceman HAS got a weakness!
THEY don’t call him the ‘Nordic Meat Shield’ for nothing. If ever criticism was going to bounce off someone, it is Erling Haaland.
It is inconceivable to consider a scenario whereby he does not click back into a relentlessly composed goalscoring groove. Manchester City would really rather he found that fairly quickly now, though.
Picking holes in the Premier League’s top scorer — he is on 16, one ahead of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah — is difficult and ultimately foolish. His potential is so ridiculously high that any blemish feels larger than its reality.
Having said that, the squandered opportunities during the draw against Chelsea cost City two points and served as a fillip for Premier League title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal.
Shirt off, Haaland knew that as he trudged down the Etihad tunnel, having forgone his traditional lap of appreciation in front of supporters. A cameraman got his comeuppance for circling a little too close.
It was a frustrating evening for him, one in which the expected goal (xG) statistics indicated that enough had been created for him to score between one and two. That does not sound like an awful lot, but the metrics used surround the quality of chance for a normal striker without prejudice. This is no normal striker.
The two headers were the ones, the first steered wide in an effort focused on precision, then flying through the air for the second and missing the target.
These were not scenes often seen in his debut campaign and yet Haaland now only has two Premier League goals since November. He was absent for five games with a foot injury that threw up complications and unforeseen setbacks, but he has still featured in six. Both of those strikes came against Everton earlier this month.
On a constant quest for improvement, Haaland realises heading is something that requires continued work.
Of his 208 career goals, they account for little over 10 per cent. With his frame and power, it is definitely an area for growth and even at Borussia Dortmund — when he bullied the Bundesliga to such a degree that the whole of Europe wanted to sign him — they did extra sessions on that. Former Bayern Munich striker Alexander Zickler put the hours in with him.
It is no different at City and they had been seeing the benefits during a mind-boggling toppling of records. Eight goals with his head last year was his most productive return ever, beating the five he managed in his farewell season at Dortmund.
This time he is on three, the last coming at Old Trafford in October. As he left the field there, Haaland was given a sermon by Pep Guardiola.
City had won 3-0, yet their Spanish manager still wanted to make a point about the 23-year-old’s finishing.
Not the headed goal, City’s second of the day that killed the game, but another glorious chance moments before the break. A similar passage of play, Haaland’s bullet header was aimed straight down the middle of Andre Onana’s goal and the keeper produced an eye-catching stop. Guardiola told him he must be stronger and more convincing in those moments.
You wonder if the first chance on Saturday, cranking his neck in an attempt to find the top righthand corner from a central start rather than merely hitting the target, is a result of experiences like against Manchester United.
If City continue working on that aspect of his armoury, Haaland has shown enough over the years to suggest he will pick it up. If he starts scoring headers regularly, the others might as well pack up and go home.
Phil Foden has admirably taken on goalscoring responsibility in recent weeks, now lying on 15 in all competitions alongside Julian Alvarez. Guardiola knows, though, that this City team is built for Haaland to do the heavy lifting and they need their iceman back.
Last year, he outperformed his xG by 13, ending up with 52 across all competitions. This year, he is down by three while scoring 21.
He has netted 36 per cent of the 33 ‘big chances’ created for him, a worse record than Salah and Alexander Isak but better than Ollie Watkins and Darwin Nunez.
So there is progress to be made and he will do it — he is too good and too stubborn not to.
It would help ease the burden if City started keeping clean sheets more readily, with just two in their last 14 league matches.
They go behind in games a lot, Chelsea the seventh time in 10 where they have found themselves in a losing position. They have only lost one of those though, when outplayed at Aston Villa, and have rescued 14 points from the rest.
‘I don’t think there is an easy answer as to why,’ defender Kyle Walker said. ‘I can’t pinpoint anything — I’d probably be a better manager than Pep if I could.
‘I think the character we’ve shown to keep going, keep fighting until the end, it’s what this club is all about.’
The same goes for the big man up front.
MANCHESTER CITY (4-1-4-1): Ederson 7; Walker 6.5, Akanji 5.5, Dias 7, Ake 6; Rodri 7.5; Foden 6, De Bruyne 7.5, Alvarez 7 (Silva 64min, 7), Doku 5.5; Haaland 5. Scorer: Rodri 83. Booked: Silva. Manager: Pep Guardiola 6. CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Petrovic 6.5; GUSTO 8, Disasi 7.5, Colwill 6, Chilwell 6.5; Caicedo 6, Fernandez 7; Palmer 7.5 (Chalobah 71, 5.5), Gallagher 7, Sterling 7.5 (Nkunku 64, 6); Jackson 5 (Casadei 82). Scorer: Sterling 42. Booked: Caicedo, Palmer, Petrovic. Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 7. Referee: Andy Madley 6. Attendance: Not provided.