Pep: Haaland can be the GREATEST
ERLING Haaland is already one of the world’s greatest strikers for his age and he can go on to be one of the best goalscorers of all time, Pep Guardiola believes.
But the Blues boss says the Norwegian still has plenty of work ahead of him.
Haaland got his City career off to a brilliant start with two goals on his Premier League debut last weekend, a week after the striker came under external pressure for failing to score against Liverpool in the Community Shield.
With those ups and downs, Guardiola says he has seen the 22-year-old remain calm in training and focussed on the next game.
Asked if he can compare Haaland with any other strikers he’s worked with, or in world football, the Blues boss went as far to say the striker can be one of the greatest goalscorers of all time.
“He’s a top striker, if you put the names of the biggest strikers at that age how many games he has and goals he scored, he’s the greatest,” said Guardiola.
“You see how many games he played in Salzburg to here. How many goals?
“But he’s still at a young age. Tomorrow will be a new challenge and he’s aged 21, 22 with a long career ahead of him and he has the desire to be better, he will continue to improve.
“I will encourage him to be a better player, a better finisher and [he has to] think today I will be better than yesterday, try to train today better than yesterday.
“When this happens he has the skills to be one of the best of best top scorers of all time.”
Reflecting on Haaland’s reaction to the praise and criticism during his first weeks at City, Guardiola said: “I’m not at home with him so I don’t know how he handles it.
“But what I see in the training session is that he was calm after Liverpool and calm after West Ham.
“The debate is coming back. The moment he doesn’t score goals they are going to say maybe he’s not good – it looks like the end of the world will happen today.
“In the bad situations everything is going bad. You have to be calm in the bad moments and the best teams stay positive.”
Guardiola also wants Haaland to improve his involvements in City’s build-up play, telling the new striker that he doesn’t want him to simply be waiting in the box to score. Reflecting on the player’s performance against West Ham, Guardiola said: “He has qualities to score goals but in the process I don’t like the striker to be waiting for the ball. I want him to be involved. “I think he likes to touch the ball. Not just Erling, all of them, they all have to run and have the freedom to respect positions.
“If he wants to drop he can do it. Good linking, extra passes. Close to the box I don’t want him dropping, I want him scoring like Julian
(Alvarez). All players like to be in touch with the ball.”
After scoring against Bayern Munich on City’s US pre-season tour, Haaland described Guardiola’s training as ‘crazy’ - a comment that was put to the manager yesterday.
In response, the City boss said he aims to make all of his players better on the training pitch.
He said: “Erling like Julian or Foden or Cole Palmer have a lot of margin to improve. I wouldn’t like to make them done.
“He can be a better player, he can have the will to do it. He likes football.
“I never see a player with 21, 22 years, maybe Messi he was already advanced, the rest is never finished and always you can improve.
“We will try this season, next season, or when he leaves for him to be a better player than when he arrived.
“Like Phil, an exceptional player but margin to be better. Incredible instinct he has but has to be ready for the situations better.
“We’re here as staff and coaches to help them.
“What impresses me most is he has a good education, he’s humble, how much he talks with young players, not just important players, always talks.
“He settles good like Julian and the other guys.”