Should Pep drop Haaland?
It seems unthinkable but City boss must work out best way to deploy his prolific striker
THERE is a slight absurdity to the big questions surrounding Manchester City at the moment. Since the weekend defeat at Old Trafford, the focus on the blunting of their collective edge has been laid squarely on the sharpest tool at their disposal.
Erling Haaland: does he make City worse? In a word: no. Nobody who has scored 27 goals in 24 matches can be detrimental to any team.
Speaking to elite coaches from across Europe this week, they are all of the same mind on that. A couple of them laughed.
City are creating more big chances this year than last, with 62 in their first 18 Premier League matches. They have scored two more goals, 46. They are outperforming their expected goals (xG) at this stage of the season by nine. They were underperforming it at this stage last term.
But then there are the other statistics. Fewer touches in the opposition’s box, fewer shots, fewer key passes, fewer completed passes into the box. City do not look like the same lock-pickers of their last three title wins, nor the wing play speedsters of the first.
Haaland does not debilitate this side — and has already powered them out of sticky situations on a few occasions — and they can still win the League playing exactly as they are. Because they are City, and City are phenomenal. But there remains a formula for Pep Guardiola to find that extracts the best from the world’s finest striker and from his team-mates.
‘It’s always an interesting question: who shall adapt — a coach with his philosophy of playing, or the skills of an individual? That’s a challenge for every coach,’ Lars Lagerback, who gave Haaland his international debut at 19, tells Sportsmail.
The question is one on the lips of the greatest management minds on the continent right now. Some are keen to strip the debate back to tactics and philosophies, others rightly point to a squad that is currently suffering from players struggling to recapture form in key positions. Not many want to put their name to a thesis; it’s a bit of a hot potato.
One theory, though, is how a lack of a senior traditional left back hampers the champions. City sold theirs to Arsenal and have, as yet, not trusted replacement Sergio Gomez to feature in the sort of matches Oleksandr Zinchenko did during his time at the Etihad
Stadium. Joao Cancelo’s brilliance out there can’t be overlooked, yet there is no real obvious alternative and that does have an impact on City’s tactical dexterity.
‘The only avenue really for City to keep Haaland effective is to go wider,’ one coach says. ‘And change the way their full backs play.
‘Jack Grealish did an interview recently where he said he is told to stay wide and mentioned that the full backs don’t overlap. But maybe it needs to go back to Kyle Walker flying forward. Push the full backs on a bit further and create overloads in the wide areas. Maybe a left-footed left back to go round the outside — direct flank play.’
‘Overloads’ is the key word. ‘It’s probably easier to stop crosses when it’s just one player out wide. You probably know what Riyad Mahrez or Grealish are going to do — cut in. It cuts down Haaland’s opportunity to score. He requires good service.’
All of that is heavily disputed by a UEFA technical observer, who has studied City closely. ‘City have excellent rotation on the sides,’ he says. ‘They are playing wide. With Haaland, I don’t think he has the ability to cope positionally outside the box to the same level as the rest of the team. It’s a weakness. You have to use his strength and work on the weakness. ‘The other players don’t have as much free space to run into the area now. He’s so focused on scoring, the other nine players have to feed him as much as possible.’ Nelson Verissimo, manager of Portuguese Primeira Liga side Estoril, was surprised to see how Haaland came searching for the ball at Manchester United.
‘Against United, he often dropped to the centre circle to help the build-up — that can’t be his role,’ he says. ‘I would have the full back on the side of the ball more open and creating outer triangles with a winger and an offensive player, for numerical superiority.’
Lagerback offers a different perspective, believing that Haaland’s pace is such that City can look to go direct more quickly — even against deep five-man defences.
‘I have huge respect for Pep,’ he says. ‘It’s a good philosophy. The opponents can’t score when you have the ball. Keep the ball and don’t risk too much with your passing game.
‘But with Haaland’s speed, quick counter-attacks are a real weapon. If you win the ball, your first thought should be, “Where is Erling?” and work from there. That is the most obvious way to use his skills.
‘When I was in Norway, they said that he did the 100 metres in under 11 seconds. Give him 30m and I don’t think anybody beats him in the Premier League.’
That is how Haaland thrived at Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund. West Ham gave him room to their cost on the opening weekend of the season. Barely anybody has dared since.
Lagerback adds: ‘The best games Erling played for me were actually a little bit like how Arsenal are playing, with Martin Odegaard as a shadow striker in behind him. That suited Erling very well.’
Kevin De Bruyne has operated in those Odegaard areas ever since Sergio Aguero left City. The Belgian, though, often drifts away into the ‘half space’ — an area between central and wide — which offers a better crossing angle. Haaland’s second goal in the 6-3 win over United is a perfect example of how that move is so potent.
‘Teams are getting better, the analysis is better, they know how to block De Bruyne. If you stop him, you’ve a far better chance of stopping Haaland,’ another coach says. ‘Play a back four against City and they kill you — mainly because of De Bruyne with those sliding
balls inside the full back. A third centre half helps stop them.’
Guardiola, who blames himself for City’s stuttering, indicated yesterday that they simply are not offering Haaland enough support. ‘For Erling to score goals, we have to play better,’ he said. ‘The shape we played in the last two games didn’t help Erling to score.
‘We have too many players (midfielders) outside and too few players inside. Without players inside you can’t defend or play well. This is mainly the problem. If Erling is alone, we are not going to score the goals, it’s impossible. We need more runners — not just Erling.’
Guardiola has been evolving ways to beat those low blocks for years and almost always found success. City build with five men behind the ball and five attackers in front in the hope of stretching the opposition vertically.
‘Safe’ is again mentioned — this time by the technical observer, suggesting there is room for more risks. ‘It’s a good idea not to stay with his five plus five — one or two more could go forward. But then if you’re in the final third and have 20 players in that area, it’s not easy to find a penetrating ball. Playing so high is not easy to find space.’
Even the experts cannot agree, and Guardiola might need a bit of time to solve this particular conundrum.