Erling Haaland DID HIS JOB ... but he hasn't been great! - Steve Nicol | ESPN FC

The ESPN FC crew discuss Manchester City's narrow 2-1 victory over Sheffield United on Sunday.

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[cazweston]

Haaland is only just getting going this season and he's already got three goals in as many Premier league game this season. He had a tremendous season last time out with 52 goals in all competitions including 36 in the league. And I have every faith in him to continue his magnificent form. So pundits need to lay off him and give him all the credit he deserves for Christ sakes!!

[nicholailewis]

It's a bit harsh to be pointing fingers so early into the season, especially when they are off to a perfect 9 points. They're coming back from the euphoria of winning a treble, where Halland broke so many scoring records. Jeez! Give him some grace for the first five or six games of the new season.

[Tymcfc]

For some reason city always have trouble at Sheffield away. I know this would be a tricky game

[lwandilentaphane]

Haaland should have been on 6 goals at least by now. Missed a lot of chances even though he was not the only one who missed chances but who cares. 3 wins in 3 games for City! At least Erling managed to get a goal that will boost his confidence.

[MuctaruKabba]

Nadum is the most level headed in analysis, and yet he's usually made to talk least. ⚽

[djanglesmcdoogle]

No one else in their career has been criticized this much at 23 for only scoring A goal instead of several. Set the league record for a season last year but he's not superman. Pundits just have nothing else to talk about. "Hasn't been great since the start of the season" 3 matches in ffs lol 😂

[ameenaftab]

The whole team is playing below their standards, key injuries, 2 defenders are falling on Haaland, pulling his shirt, holding him down in corners.
And all the blames fall onto him bcoz he only scored 1. Wow.

Kudos to Haaland for still staying like himself after what everyone says about him. He can go into Dortmund mode but he just doesn't care. He knows he is only a striker for city and everyone around him will create chances for him.

[Beinvisible]

City should've had atleast 2 penalties

[caseyimiller]

I think the attack is struggling to adjust having Alvarez just behind in the build up, even Alvarez looks lost at times with his positioning and so too Haaland.

[nourishcherish]

jack grealish is underrated. Without mans cross. haaland aint scoring. You have to feed haaland. That is the problem with strikers of this generation. Good old days of neymar, messi and ronaldo who scored goals on their own are gone

[cruisinlikenemo]

Long Read……

Remember when Pep subbed Haaland out when he scored 5 goals in the ucl and everyone cried and said that Pep is bitter and he loves Messi too much?

Pep then said something so true, he said something like….people will always expect Haaland to score goals and once he doesn’t people aren’t happy. (Pep was never bitter, he just knows the quality of goals Messi scored, doesn’t need to be broken yet😂)

I truly feel like Haaland needs to become a better OVERALL player.

After his skills that pertain to him scoring, his only great help is keeping defenders occupied for his teammates (and he’s only really able to do that because of his size)

Players like Lewa, Agureo, Thierry, Rooney, R9….never had the excuse to not be a GOOD dribbler, SOLID at passing, having the excuse after 4 straight finals that the reason they had 6-15 touches was only because of their coaches tactics and their teammates didn’t pass/create enough chances for them.🫤

Haaland job is to score, yes. Especially since he is way more efficient and effective than most past and present strikers, but doesn’t mean he should lowkey be a dull footballer once he doesn’t score.

Haaland is a spectacle for people who only care about the ball going in the net, he gets to have average games and clean it up with a goal and then everyone forget how players like Bernardo, Rodri, Alvarez, KDB, Gundogan (before he left) and even Grealish were there to clean up his lackluster performances in finals.

[senti]

Teams like Sheffield give City the most problems. It wasnt unusual game except for Haaland missing penalty.

[haitch]

Nunez did his job but hasn't been great too but he's the latest super star, At least we know Haaland CAN be great.

[mikangel]

Halaand has set a very high standard for himself. Where 3 goals in 3 games is a bad stats for him. The first 2 games city in general has being playing below standard. The game against Sheffield they played like city attacking in all angle and control the game. Winning a treble can be very fatigued. These guys didn't even have enough time to rest and recover. That's why you see a lot of their key players injured.

[simonoliver]

Well for me criticising haaland is frankly nitpicking to say the least he has scored three goals in three games and the team he plays for has won every match so far 🤔ok he missed a penalty fair enough but I just think if this is a talking point we are running out of things to talk about really imo🤣 maybe give Sheffield united credit for making a game of it instead of this boring narrative about haaland 🤣

[inviz]

I don't understand the arguments for Haaland and Grealish today. "well they got a goal/assist in the end" You wouldn't say that if someone missed 5 open goals and the finally scored would you? "well they got a goal in the end" Yes but they missed 5 massive chances. They have both been poor so far this season.

[gruevlock]

Kovacic is a beast !! If he can score more he might be better than Gundo.

[trinigodblessyouth]

Halland is my cap in fpl and I always say with this guy it's more a matter of when than it is If ...That is must score Halland

[kolawoleboluwatife]

Haaland got the golden boot, breaking goal scoring regards two months ago, and suddenly he isn't good enough just 2 games into the season despite having 3 goals already. Steve, lol.

[alanF]

He hasn’t been the same since Pep publicly chewed him out