Erling Haaland’s Manchester City legacy would never be determined after one Community Shield appearance, and it certainly won’t be sealed after one Premier League game in August. Whether his time at the Etihad turns out to be legendary or below par will be resolved in due course. But his move from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City is being watched so closely and the pressure to perform under Pep Guardiola is so great that every appearance from him is thrust into the limelight. And his first Premier League experience couldn’t have gone much better.
With a converted penalty and a clinical finish on a lightning-fast counter-attack, Haaland proved his worth in Sunday’s season-opening 2-0 win over West Ham. His double was responsible for both Man City goals on the day and perhaps relieved some of the early fears surrounding his 16-touch, missed nanny-of-a-show vs. Liverpool last weekend.
The unwieldy Norwegian shot out and was awarded the penalty that would result in City’s opener. Guardiola was particularly impressed with his desire to take the penalty, let alone his ability to convert it. There is an acknowledgment that with Haaland in tow, City’s ceiling – which is saying something for a club that has won four of the last five Premier League titles – needs to be raised, and as a result the goals and wins have to flow. Despite his outrageous scoring record (86 goals in 89 appearances at Dortmund), every game can’t be a masterpiece, but Sunday’s, when he donned a kit oddly similar to Dortmund’s, at least dampened the criticism.
“I know how he handled a lot of criticism this week,” Guardiola said after the game. “He was very calm, he trained very well, but the way he took the ball for the penalty, I said, ‘I like it.’
“So direct and I think if someone takes the ball, he would punch them in the face, even if it’s his friends! And that’s quite a good sign. To be so confident, I like it.”
His second showed the kind of devastating player he can be in the open field. Jack Grealish, last summer’s transfer splash, kicked off the action, with Kevin De Bruyne eventually splitting the defense with a trademark through the ball to find Haaland in line and blast after his goal. He didn’t even have to touch before he lined up to shoot, that’s how heavy the pass was and so was the technique needed to score. Instead of trying to get around the keeper, he opened his hips and calmly used his left to sort out the back post. For a club that didn’t really have a striker last season, they arguably now have the best in the game, and when it’s needed they can show it.
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“Erling scored the two goals, it’s important for him and the team and for us and it’s another weapon we have now,” Guardiola said. “But at the same time, he’s not going to solve all our problems, he’s going to add something to us as a team. That’s what we’re looking for.
“Today the two goals were balls for the center of the defense and we felt we could find him more.
“We used to have no reference like him and now we have it again, but at the same time the guys have to put the ball there, especially in the transitions. It was an incredible second goal and incredible action from Jack. The ball was fed to him, he keeps the ball and pulls the opponents and found a bag and when this happens to Kevin, with one man, it’s hard to stop.”
Haaland had twice as many ball contacts against West Ham as against Liverpool, and as time goes on and the matches in which he will really be judged – Champions League knockout matches – approach, he will in theory have adapted even more to his new environment , and its new competition. He is a player who will question him every step of the way regardless of how many times he has scored multiple goals in league appearances. But in a weekend where Liverpool dropped points and Man United fell at home to Brighton, Man City continues to push forward. And as for debuts, like Haaland’s meditation celebration, his couldn’t have been much calmer and more serene.
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