YOU JUST HAAVEN’T A CHANCE
Collins: City goal machine is simply unstoppable
NATHAN COLLINS reckons it is impossible to stop goal machine Erling Haaland in a one-on-one duel.
But the Ireland defender insists Wolves can band together again and breathe fresh life into their relegation fight after seeing the Norwegian run riot with another hat-trick.
Haaland smashed his fourth hat-trick of the season in Sunday’s 3-0 demolition of Wolves, bringing his personal tally to an eye-watering 31 goals in 26 games in all competitions.
Wolves remain fourth from bottom as a result and are only safe from the Premier League drop zone because of a superior goal difference to Bournemouth.
Collins and his Wolves team-mates had done a reasonable job stifling ace marksman Haaland for much of the first-half at the Etihad Stadium.
But the striker pounced for his opener just before the break and then added a quick-fire brace – one from the penalty spot – early in the second-half.
Collins will be praying Kylian Mbappe proves easier to shackle when the global superstar arrives in Dublin with France in March, for Ireland’s opening Euro 2024 qualifier.
But of Haaland’s brilliance, Collins said: “He’s a top striker and you can’t defend strikers like that one versus one.
“You need to defend as a team, especially against City,” added the Leixlip man, who impressed despite the loss.
Collins added: “He gets himself in positions and creates chances for himself. You can stop him three of four times, but he always gets that extra chance.
“Everyone has to defend, it’s not just one player, no player can defend one versus one against him.
“You’re coming up against top players and a top team, but you need to defend as an 11. They just got the better of us and showed their quality.
“But we’ll dust ourselves down and have to go again. It’s a team game, we win together, we lose together, and we have to go again.”
That defeat to Manchester
City was Wolves’ second on the bounce having lost an FA
Cup replay to Liverpool.
But they had gone four games unbeaten before that and Collins is confident they can get back on track.
Wolves are not in action this weekend because of the FA Cup fourth round, but face Liverpool again in the league the following weekend.
Stephen Kenny is following Collins’
progress with interest as their Euro 2024 opener against France – and the friendly with Latvia – is looming large in March. But Collins believes Wolves can kick on again under new boss Julen Lopetegui (inset) and said: “Since the gaffer came in, we’ve been on the rise.
“We’ve been doing well, and that wasn’t us on Sunday. I think we can be a lot better than that and we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and go again.
“We know what we have, we know how good we can be, and that’s not where the standards should be.
“We let ourselves down a bit, but we need to dust ourselves off and go again.”
Collins made headlines last summer after scoring a sensational individual goal for Ireland in a Nations League clash away to Ukraine in the Polish city of Lodz and knows to survive in the top flight Wolves will have to be more ruthless and chip in with goals from all areas of the pitch.
“Not on Sunday, but in previous games we’ve been a lot better and a lot brighter.
“But the goals have to come from everywhere – from set pieces and midfield, so it’s a team thing,” he added.