We Need To Talk About Haaland. 

I don’t think Haaland is bad, but I think his playstyle does not suit Man City. Kane’s playstyle is much better for City… Haaland would shine in a place like Real Madrid with their killer transitions.

People just have memory loss and live in the now. 4 months ago everyone was saying "he is just another poacher", or "he just scores tap ins" to mock people that claimed what people are saying about Haaland now. He is out of form, like all players are now and then. He start scoring like mad again, and scoring worldie goals, then suddenly he is the GOAT etc etc. Everything is exaggerated. He is out of form right now, thats it.

The fact that people are even having this debate is wild to me. There are so many examples of Haaland bringing in his teammates with clever touches, passes, and runs. Just look at last season when they thrashed Arsenal 4-1. Players go in and out of form and tactics change game by game. Haaland is elite, next conversation please.

English media is ridiculous. A young striker who broke the PL goal record last year in his first season is in a bad form right now (still leading PL goal scorer table) and therefore called a bad player. Are you guys mad? He is a very specific type of striker and struggles right now, as any players does in his career multiple times. He did incredible things last season, give him time and he will be able to do it again but dont expect him to score 60 goals every season

Reminds me of a clip where Thierry Henry describes his own growth as a Striker. He said he would diversify his runs based on who he'd receive the ball from because Pires, Bergkamp, Viera, Ljungberg, etc. had varying abilities to find him in certain spaces. This is where Haaland can develop his game, but I wonder how much freedom Pep gives him to move around the pitch. If he HAS to stay in position, then Pep needs to provide other squad players capable of finding him. Joao Cancelo is fantastic, can play RB or inverted LB, but sent to Barca...

Heavy suspicion on how Pep has been asking him to play lately... Remember his debut season ? His movement and awareness off the ball were world class, he was making the runs, getting the ball deeper in the field for active hold-up plays or even progressive runs. Now he mostly look like a sweet giant on a camping trip, waiting for good crosses. Yes KDB not being here at the start of the season might have had some influence on his performance but dont tell me that Foden or Bernado Silva were unable to create similar chances if Pep didnt actually ask them to fundamentally change the way they would handle attacking phases... So I hope Halland would quit being a good student and play with more instinct

Does anyone remember zlatan saying “you don’t buy a Ferrari to drive it like a fiat” he was referring to pep buying him and then proceeding to use him in a way that was not gonna take advantage of his abilities and that’s exactly what is happening with haaland. Why buy players that can do extraordinary things like his goal last season vs BVB when you’re gonna pass the opposition to death?

He just scored 4 today.

Haaland isn’t the type of forward that’d work in a pep system that controls possession. Haalands best attributes are running into space/running in behind. For a person of his stature, he’s not as physical or as much of a target player. Someone like Boniface would be much better suited to this Pep team, doesn’t mind getting physical, technically good and can link up play as a target player if needed, as we’ve seen this season where he’s links play well with Wirtz and Hofmann

here is my hot take: its not haaland, its the position. strikers cant be the best player in the world anymore, they dont do enough. even if you score 40 goals, you have plenty of wingers scoring 30 with way more assists plus way more involvment in the game. the game has developed and haaland is doing his job as a striker but when years ago wingers were there to basically get the ball to their striker, they have become so good with players like vini, salah, mbappe that they just also sore a ton of goals like strikers. also striker depend on their teammates doing things for them while wingers can create more on their own because you can always get a ball to your winger on the side but it is hard to get the ball to your striker.

I find this whole narrative around Haaland right now a bit strange, how many of the greatest forwards of all time would be able to thrive surrounded by bodies in a deep block with minimal service? Also, how many were analysed in a way to focus on their overall game…you could name any forward and state that they’d be average in other positions, well obviously they’re forwards and don’t have the profiles to play elsewhere. It’s the same for haaland, with his profile if you provide him with a lot of service and good chances he will score the majority, it seemed like city catered more to that in his first season but have drifted away from that as you mentioned in the vid.

Haaland is a great finisher and everyone knows it, especially Madrid. Pep Guardiola is a genius, but taking off Haaland was a mistake, imo. When Haaland came off it was so much easier for Madrid to defend. They redeployed Nacho to help Carvajal (and then Militao) to shut down Doku. After Haaland came off Doku became ineffective. And Haaland couldn't have been tired, he barely did any running, and he would definitely be a penalty taker. It was a strange decision.

us united fans call it "the graveyard shift" because every single one of our strikers in the last 15 years have experienced it Striker gets little to no service or good chances created for them,and when they don't score people like this zestfest come out and tell everybody how bad they are That's the equivalent of Sergio Ramos starting a game where He and his team lost 2-1 and saying he is a bad defender because they conceded those 2 goals?

Haaland is a good footballer, yes he has had a slight downturn this season, This season is the first "bad season in Haaland`s career." This is the first season in his career where Haaland hasn`t met or exceeded his expected goals.

Build up play has become more important in the modern game. Modern teams are more compact vertically. Which means the distance between their strikers and their defenders are closer. They defend with 11 players forming a block. Therefore, you need 11 creative players to break down that block. That’s why modern defenders and goalkeepers are required to be so much more technical on the ball. In the past, being a goal hanger isn’t that big of a trade off, because your team could still be able to create through a 4 men defence. But nowadays, you can’t afford to be one man down in the build up process because you are facing 11 defenders. This is why modern football has become more “TOTAL”. A striker’s job is not just finishing, but also defending and creating. Otherwise your team would be in a numerical disadvantage in the defensive/build up phase. The same applies to defenders and goalkeepers. Being “TOTAL” not only means you are not in a disadvantage in other phases, it allows more position swapping opportunities to break down those low blocks, hence more tactical flexibility. This is why serving the system has become so much more important in modern football.

For people who doubt him and say he isn't world class, he is the top scorer in the league and broke the record last year while playing for a team which is not at all fitting with his game. If he went to liverpool or he goes to madrid he will show that fast paced scoring machine we were used to at BVB

Yesterday we saw how bad he is. Are you mad? This guy broke the Premier League goals record at his first attempt, at only 23 years old. And right now he's top score in the league with two games left...while having a off season. The only two forwards in world football at the same level as Haaland are Mbappe and Kane.

Pretty inarguable that Kane is the best striker in the world at this point

Getting outscored by McTominay in the Euro qualifiers and not getting to the Euros already disqualified Haaland from the ballon dor in my opinion

It's something you only see watching the games in person - Haaland is constantly held by 'physical' defenders like Rudiger, Gabriel etc Doesn't win fouls very often as the referees look at the size of him, so it's unpunished to hold him all game

Next level analysis! I can now impress my mates at the pub once again, thanks James.

He’s a great striker. In the truest sense of the word. But dare I say it, is Pep a bit bored of him? City play a lot slower in the UCL and value control above anything else. Haaland is lethal when he’s one on one and running at the goal but that requires a lot more transitional play - which Pep has no interest in. Against Madrid he got involved where he arguably ‘shouldn’t be’ precisely BECAUSE there’s no space to run into. Alvarez felt like a much better fit for City’s plan against Madrid game. The set up effectively asks Haaland to take every chance first time and outside of that… I don’t really know?

KDB and Walker don’t have too many years left. That’ll be a major transformation in style with how Man City have played under Pep. Will Pep even stick around for the rebuild or adjustment? Walker has been huge in defense and KDB is KDB

Viking Andy Carroll

This is exactly why Zlatan failed at Barcelona and never got along with Pep. Pep’s style of play never suited an out and out striker.

Haaland's "bad season." Wins golden boot.

Haaland's issues stem from Man City being overly reliant on going through the middle, all roads go through De Bruyne, Rodri, Foden. Man City getting rid of Palmer to sign Doku was the dumbest exchange in history. Doku may be an upgrade on Graelish but City have nothing from the flanks which takes out a lot of Haalands strengths.

Madrid, for good portions of the 120 minutes had all 10 outfield players either in, or directly around the box. He’s completely crowded out, but has to stay central, in case a ball drops in those areas, to give other players space by occupying the CB’s, and just to provide a balance. But because his role right now is very much, ‘be the guy that keeps the opposition from moving up’, he’s getting slated. The guy is just doing what’s he’s told.

Somebody give Jimbo the rights for the videos because his analysis is top quality! And with still images only!

Would be interesting to look at the FB stats around defenders against Haaland this season compared to previous in PL. We always say that it takes analysts and tacticians a season or so to build up enough stats on a player new to the league to learn how to counter their threats…so are defenders winning more duels against Haaland? Does he have less space afforded to him? Is he having less touches, is he shooting closer/further to goal, being fouled more/less… Those stats (and I’m sure plenty others) would go some way to pointing to if this will continue next season or not….

As a united fan,hes not bad,hes having a normal striker season

At dortmund he was a wildcard even coming into the middle but genius pep wants him to pin the two CBs so that foden and de bruyne shine. Despite all that he scored 50 goals last year but when it comes to the biggest games he's ineffective for obvious reasons.

Crazy how he scores 30+ goals a season but is still considered a bad player

He has not scored as many goals this season as he did last because opposition defences are getting tighter to him or man marking him. He will learn from this and his game will improve because of this. He will learn how to find more space, pockets of play and creating opportunities to score himself. He is 23 years of age and has another 7 years before he peeks and hits his prime.

Suffering also like Messi and Ronaldo did, they were so good that anything less than excellence is considered poor and people got bored/used to his excellence very quick, e.g. he won premier league player of the year but they didn’t give him young player of the year even tho he was nominated

Its Pep, he will turn Haaland into a forward pressing bot if it means players like KDB and Foden get numerical advantage

He’s a very good striker going against an even better defender

It's great seeing someone with knowledge of the game showing exactly what's going on with haaland and city. He's not the type of player that drops into the midfield to create things nor is he needed to in city's current team. He needs proper service and while like u said his movement off ball could be a little more dynamic and less predictable if he's not getting the service in the first place u can't blame him for that. Even the odd long ball over the top for him to chase after and use his pace and strength to latch on to could be useful for him but because of the way city play you'll almost never see that ball being played to him.

Messi and Ronaldo really have skewed everyone’s opinion just because he hasn’t got the 50 or whatever goals he got last season doesn’t mean he’s bad he wasn’t brought in to link up play he was brought in to finish chances he’s still joint top scorer in the prem so I don’t get where all this has come from

Haaland needs to be able to adapt more. He is great and did good going from Dortmund to City in his first season but I think that was largely cause that season was served to him on a silver player (not to discredit his achievements that year). In general when the way the play around him changes in a way that isn’t suitable for him he has a hard time adapting.

i firmly believe Haaland has a turning point in his career at some point and focuses on rounding out his skill set. i can only hope it happens before it's a necessity, bc if he still can make runs like that while he learns a shade of what made Ibrahimovic a dribbling menace or Giroud a legitimate playmaking genius, he can truly leave a defense w no good answers.

The last games City, Arsenal and Liverpool lost have all the same pattern. All 3 teams have a specific style of play which they try to force at all cost. As soon as they face a well organised team that is ready to fight it all starts to crumble. If you then don't take the many chances you get you end up losing. I wouldn't even blame Haaland for this loss because he simply isn't that type of player that can decide a game on his own but City have many other players that are perfectly capable of doing so and yet they decided to pass the ball around the box and somehow carry it into the goal.

James, could you do a comparison video between Haaland at City and at Dortmund?

With how young Haaland still is, and what he's shown already in the last few years, not least before joining City, I'm certain he'll have a season akin to the one you're suggesting he needs James, he has plenty of time to win one B'd'Or, at least

Haaland is great goal scorer but only thing missing holding up play, he can learn from benzama and Kane. He’s is very young , for him it’s achievable.

Didn't he win the CL and score 50 goals last season? Still didn't win the Ballon d'Or

Haaland thrives only when Bernardo Silva on the field of play cause his gotta magical pass,for him to score but not with standing haaland fits Barcelona system of play more than real Madrid. He is a complete striker.

Quality Upload James!

Tbf, I think Pep wants him to stay glued to the CBs. Thats just how City wants to use Haaland in posession. While he is not as great as Jesus or Alvares at being a fascilitator, he is still pretty darn good at it.

Very good takes👍

he’ll bang in 30+ every season for basically his whole career and win loads of trophies… people just gotta get over themselves… he’s not messi and doesn’t need to be

Great analysis James!!

I think you nailed it with the far-post analysis. Haaland keeps running far post every time the wingers are about to cross. I'm not a winger, but isn't that the most difficult position to pass to? Especially for low balls (since he can't seem to score a header).

Hey James, it's Chris from the predictions video you did at the beginning of the season when I said "Haaland will struggle to score 20 goals this season". While I might not have been correct in my prediction, it's nice to see that you acknowledge I had a point!

Haaland’s style doesn’t suit Man City. Especially against good defenders, like Real Madrid’s. He is easy to nullify for these world class defenders. It isn’t a coincidence that he never performs in big games.

He’s an amazing striker and he’s currently out of form. Nothing wrong with that and I think the conversation is a bit silly. People who say he’s washed are ridiculous

It's simple, he's been figured out. He's a brute; managers got other big players and now that he can't bully people he can't break break through. It really wasn't hard, I said this last year and people laughed at me. Look at how much emphasis managers, pundits and other players have put on height all of a sudden if you don't believe me, they sound like girls swiping on tinder. I hope this trend cuts off eventually, I miss seeing nimble fast players that are actually good at football, not basketball players using their weight to break through defences to score tap ins.

How does he win Ballon D'or? He has a season like the last one and he doesn't get robbed. Wins the treble being the top goalscorer in the UCL and even breaking the all time single season PL record. I don't have particularly strong feelings about Messi either way but that's just the way it is.

“If you drive a Ferrari, you put premium petrol in the tank, you hit the motorway and you step on the gas. Guardiola filled up with diesel and took a spin in the countryside. He should have bought a Fiat.” - Zlatan City’s got an incredibly strong, lighting fast striker with excellent movement and finishing…. but then never plays any of his runs, passes it sideways and complain about his link up… 🤷

I see your point about 'how is he supposed to get involved in link up lay?' - but the point is when he is touching the ball, often it's a heavy touch, pointless touch. He's just fast and strong and with a good finish. Actual 'footballing ability' is fairly average, and that's as obvious as it possibly can be.

The issue i see about Haaland is that the teammates are not giving him the ball early where he got space to poach, and that's because city generally build from the back, and that naturally pushes teams back to their posts, and closes the spaces that penetrating passes should normally go to, for Haaland to attack. Haaland doesn't need one touch more to score.

The problem is not scoring goals every game but the effort, he pearly touchs the ball in some games especially in big games

Prime Rashford: 17 PL goals Worst version of Haaland: 25 PL goals Levels 🔥

Haaland is younger than foden… we’re talking about how much potential foden has (which he could be the best) but after a season where haaland broke the goal record in his first year and got second in the ballon d’or, we’re saying he’s bad and should be dropped by man city… it’s a combo of the english agenda and man city agenda. Haaland is significantly worse than he was last season but he’s top goal scorer still in the prem

He's not bad in the slightest, this discussion is moronic

They use him as decoy 90% of the time. Must be very frustrating. Still topscorer so can't be that bad.

Its no all on Haaland, the service this season hasnt been that good compared to last year.

Haaland is not bad striker, for his size i do not think hes a terrible footballer either, for me i think if he were in a team thats not so focused on posession and controlling game so much, he would look a lot more better than he looks its because a lot of the footballers around him are such good ball players in contrast to him, obviously i think there should be more to his game than what he has now, but i think later on,not only is haaland going to be a a great goalscorer, but also hes gonna be a decent footballer as well, remember this is his 2nd season from dortmund where counterattack and moments of brilliance was the order of the day, old habits die hard sometimes i think hes transitioning into not only a great striker which he is, but an awesome ball playing forward also. He is quick he does have the size, he does have a good read of the game, good movement, these are good attribute of a 23 year old that a coach can take and mold into a top player, while i think city is not the best team for what he is now, the player he can become or improve to be, is a different story and im glad hes at city now so he can learn an overall view of what he need to be as a striker, remember even cr7 was a bit raw at first didnt know where to fit on a side like man utd, he had to gain perspective and how he can influence a match, and haaland is doing that now.

He's only 23 so there's plenty of room for him to grow. Bare in mind Kane wasn't the type of St he is today when he was 23. Kane also never had to deal with players bear hugging him from behind every 90mins. Haaland is just having a bad season & he's still the top goal scorer in the Prem

he just needs to work on his game to be able to hold up play and influence the game more efficently when he comes up aginast top CBs in the ucl and big league games being only 23 there is plenty of time for this with some tactical and personel tweaks im sure he will be back to top form identifying him as a binary player is very good way to describe him. In a down year he will likely end up with around 40 goals and 8 assists which is still pretty damn good with city in the title race and FA cup still. most def is overhated but def deserves the critism this year he will def be top golden ball contender for years to come since he alr proved he can do the 50 goals plus ucl benchmark

There's only one to blame, Pep. There are times, Haaland doesn't even touch the ball, that isn't his fault but when he has it, but misses, then it's his fault.

Bring back Dortmund-Haaland. The guy who was allowed to roam free and caused havoc all over the pitch.

Manchester City's Haaland is an offense towards RB Salzburg and Borrusia one, which is a pitty

Erlin is a world class striker, but it pep technical tactics that have allow erlin to obtain goals, but other opponents strategy is to mark erlin all the way never switch off, and pep is smart because erlin is mark so much other get that freedom towards goal and that makes Manchester city dangerous, because of the unpredictability of the team, but how pep can get erlin more involved if he having lack of goals make it up for assists, I wonder pep, can tweak erlin rotation from the central attack mid CAM role and be a center forward at the same time, erlin could be flexible to rank up his passing and rotation and switch roles in a game, pep please try that method

Haalands not a world class player and he never will be that doesn't mean he is terrible but his best trait is being a goal poacher but he has missed some sitters just like Nunez. I think the reason why he will never be in the Goat debate is that in a big game, if his team is playing rubbish he is unable to change the game and be a shining light throughout a bad team, I think his output last season was amazing but he will never be in the goat debate, so many players have the potential to be better than him. End of story.

One thing I think is important that people tend to overlook is that Håland lost his grandmother in February. That may well have had an effect on him and how he's performing, and it could take a while to recover from that loss. And if you're just a percent or two off, at this level of sports, that's enough to make you look a lot worse.

I think there should be more onus on attacking midfielders to make the near post run. Have a look at the stills again and you can see a big gap there with no man city player in it. If there was a player there, they'd have a tap in or a defender would get dragged off Haaland. In that Real Madrid game, I would be looking at Foden, where was he?

Pep doesn’t want haaland getting involved in the link up play not because he doesn’t think it suits the tactics, but pep knows his technically unable to do so

Isn't it crazy how some people are saying haaland is genuinely bad when he's still got 31 goals in 39 games this season. Those stats are better than many many strikers will ever get. Just shows the levels he's set for himself

I think another person that haaland misses their back post balls is cancelo. He could occupy that left half space area while kdb can be on the right. I can remember a bunch of balls from cancelo in the same style as you mentioned.

as a rma fan , city was playing wing game what could haaland could do? same thing happens at barca , people think that lewandowski fell of because xavi puts more emphasis on wings rather than solely depend on lewa

Haaland is a goal scorer. He will have to be the very best at goals i.e topscorer in Europe/England/International football. This one thing he does so well, he must make sure he cannot be compared to anyone when discussing it.

Gaslighting for social media spectators. Zero playing or coaching experience. Never have had taken any of these “debates”. Because they aren’t real debates…they are click bait titles to make cash.

I think haalands needs a team who moves the ball quicker Especially a team that thrives in transition His best attribute is speed, and honestly we barely utilize it Pep should incorporate a style were we can get our players into dangerous position in the transition It'll give teams something to think about

Love the jumper

For him to win the balón d or. He needs to be top European striker of the season, win the treble with club and hope that there is no World or Euro cup competition that year. So all the accolades a based on his performance at the club level.

I think he's in that Lewandowski category of player who should have won the ballon d'Or for a particular season, were robbed, and probably won't get another chance.

reason they dont click like last year is there is no stones in the mid. you can leave akanji on the ball because he will do jack shit with it, but stones as a spare man pushed any defense on the fucking stand.

Gurdia changed tactics whe de bruyne was injured because he couldn’t rely on the perfect pass anymore so he opted that has land creates spaces for Bernardo , phoden etc

Haaland is a pure no.9 pep style needs the striker to come deep. May be a benzema , Lewandowski and Kane suits pep where Haaland may suits fast paced transistion may be a good counter attacking team where all 3 can come deep and receive the ball and pass it and players makes their runs but haaland needs those balls to go run in the channels and finish it off . Hes not bad but yeah sometimes hes odd in city style. Thats why the BBC is so good Benzema used to recieve the ball and Ronaldo and Bale used to run of him into that space 1 or 2 dribbles and finish the play. Haaland is not bad hes just having a down turn he will be back

Haaland and Szobo should play together (again) in a german type of system.

I would say that Isak does the complete opposite to Haaland, he comes deeper to overload the midfield and its Gordon and currently Barnes the ones that make the runs in behind. Of course Isak and Haaland are both elite at getting in behind and finishing.

This didn't age well. He has scored more than anyone in the PL. Poor taste. Why don't you focus on somebody like Ollie Watkins instead? He's having a great season.

Haaland suits how Madrid play to how City play. Needs space to run into. It's like playing with 10 men for City if they don't create for him.

Aged like milk

Halland needs spaces, Man city does possession. Is not the perfect fit for guardiols tactics. Any striker can see that. Even at Barcellona pep played with the fake 9 because suits him better. Pep doesn't need a 9 both someone who is able to quickly move the ball in tight spaces and have a very good sprint. Mbappe would have been a better type striker for guardiola. Another perfect example is David Villa.

Hey jim. Interesting question for a video. Is this the end of possesion football? 1. Is it too rigid? Both arsenal and city didnt change their style. Yet both munich and madrid did. I look back to spurs' famous semi final win over ten hags ajax. In the second half of that game they by passed the press and went long to llorente. That ability to change style won them the game. 2. Is it too easy for quality wide men with high dribble stats to get in behind the high lines? Man citys kryptonite has always been players like son, and vinny junior. For all the complaints jarred bowen and westham have been very succesful against possession based teams with a budget fair higher than theirs by being rapid in the transition. And 3. Could city have benefited from giving madrid a 2nd out and out striker to worry about,and moving a player out of the midfield where they had total control anyway? Aka the 4-4-2.

Can you do a video on cole palmer?

This seems a mad conversation to me. Top scorer in the league despite missing nearly 20% of the season. Proven winner. Scored in the last 2 PL games. The results havent exactly fallen of a cliff

He won the champions league and scored 50 goals that same season but it’s not enough if you’re scoring against mid table teams. The games against Madrid, the top 4 teams in the premier league is what matters. Not against subpar opposition