The image of Haaland getting angry on the field with his teammates made the public question him and Man City.
Man City was held to a 1-1 draw in Leipzig and this match witnessed a situation in the second half that showed the discordance of some Man City players . Erling Haaland ran into an away attack but Illkay Gundogan passed it to another player, causing Haaland to show his displeasure.
In recent times, Haaland’s form has not been as destructive as it was at the beginning of the season. Only scored 1 goal in the last 6 matches in all competitions, and before that, the Norwegian striker also had a series of 3 matches against MU, Southampton and Chelsea at the beginning of the year (lost 2). Something is wrong with him in particular and with the way Man City play in general.
Man City still controlled the ball a lot against Leipzig as usual, even in the second half when the German team got up and started to play better. In the first half they proved to be superior thanks to the imprint of Grealish and Mahrez on both sides, but when these two players sank in the second half, the ball rarely reached Haaland’s position even though he kept running to wait. opportunity comes. And when he was passed, Haaland had to drift away from the center and did not have a favorable finishing position.
In the last 23 minutes Haaland did not have another touch of the ball and simple thinkers would think that the striker was “invisible” on the field. But it should be remembered that Haaland has destroyed many defenses since the beginning of the season, hat-tricks against Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, MU and 1 month ago Wolves showed that Haaland has not changed, but the satellites around Older brother.
Man City midfielders in recent times seem to no longer retain the instinct of a hunter who wants to finish off injured prey. Since the end of the year, there has been a 1-1 draw at Everton, Haaland opened the scoring, but next was Man City playing in moderation and when there was an opportunity, missed it before being scored by Demarai Gray. Even last weekend they also led at Nottingham Forest but missed a series and then lost 2 points because of Chris Wood’s goal.
That goes hand in hand with Phil Foden’s recent absence, Foden seems to have been banished to the bench for form or discipline problems but before the World Cup he was Man City’s second most dangerous spearhead. second only to Haaland but typically their double hat-trick in the Manchester derby. Foden and Kevin De Bruyne seem to be two few Man City players who are always ready to pass directly to Haaland when the opportunity arises.
Grealish did well as a substitute for Foden and he also proved to be willing to pass to Haaland, but not to the level of De Bruyne and Foden. In the match against Leipzig there was a situation where Grealish had the ball in his own half, Haaland ran for space but Grealish managed to escape the pressing and seemed to prefer to take the free-kick rather than pass it up.
How to “refuel” Haaland will still be a topic of interest in the near future because Man City has played quite lightly recently, to the point of attaching Haaland to a team that is more prone to direct ball making (which typically is MU) is sometimes better than the back-and-forth kicking style of the Premier League champions . Not only about the title this season, Haaland may also be dissatisfied and may make him think about changes in the future.
