Ajax

Guardiola has found his most interesting Manchester City yet thanks to Haaland | Jonathan Liew

14-Sep-2022 22:39:10 | The Guardian

The Norwegian’s influence sometimes looked lacking against Dortmund but his patience again proved devastating

Erling Haaland poses the professional writer a problem. Most of the time, he doesn’t do very much. He jogs towards the ball. He jogs away from the ball. He prowls and waits.

He had a grand total of 26 touches, which is quite a lot by his standards, but still comfortably fewer than both goalkeepers. And so discussing Haaland’s influence becomes something of an unsatisfying binary, pivoting around a single volatile question: did he score or not? If he did, his contribution is likely to have been decisive. If not, then you’ve spent 90 minutes watching a tall blond man look at things.