Ben Stewart
Why Erling Haaland will take time to adapt to Manchester City
There’s no doubt that Erling Haaland will turn out to be one of the signings of the summer, but the early signs suggest that he may take some time to adapt.
We’ve taken a closer look at his stats in the Community Shield to find out where he needs to improve his game.
Involvement
Manchester City have had great success over the past two seasons with a false nine system and so while Haaland needs to adapt to his new teammates, they also need to adapt to him and his play style.
In the Community Shield, Haaland touched the ball just 16 times which was the fewest of any Manchester City player that started the game.
In total, he made seven accurate passes with a pass completion rate of 77.8%.
Manchester City are used to quick interchanges in and around the box with fluid movement opening up spaces, but this isn’t really what Haaland is best at.
Haaland is deadly on transitions when he has space to run into, but this isn’t really how Manchester City score their goals.
Last season in the Premier League only two of City’s 99 goals were scored on the counter attack and so Haaland will need to adapt his game significantly to fit into the new play style.
Goal threat
Despite not scoring, Haaland can take some confidence from the xG he accumulated over the 90 minutes as he took up some good positions in the box.
In total, Haaland had an xG of 1.59 against Liverpool, with his best chances coming in the second half.
Last season Haaland overperformed his xG by 4.4 goals and so any doubts over his finishing ability should be put to bed with that stat.
Haaland had three shots in total and he did have the ball in the back of the net, only for it to be ruled out as the ball had gone out of play.
Of his three shots, two of them were classed as ‘big chances’ and so in theory if he is receiving two big chances per game against a side like Liverpool, he should be getting plenty of chances against lesser opposition.
Despite losing the game 3-1, Manchester City did accumulate the higher xG with 3.01 to Liverpool’s 2.25.
If Pep Guardiola’s side continue to create chances at their current rate, it shouldn’t take Haaland to long to get off the mark.
Premier League debut
With the Community Shield now over with and pre-season out of the way, the focus now switches to the Premier League.
Manchester City face a tricky opening tie against West Ham at the London Stadium.
Last season West Ham averaged an xG against them of just 1.34 per 90 and they did take a point from City in their last encounter.
After a trip to the London Stadium, Haaland will get the chance to make his home debut against newly promoted Bournemouth at the Etihad.
Man City have never lost against Bournemouth in their entire history and so there could be plenty of goals to come in that one.
Who should play alongside Haaland?
Pep Guardiola has quite the reputation for rotating players across the front line, but with the departures of Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, his options are a little more limited this season.
On the left he has the choice between Jack Grealish and Phil Foden and on the right he has Ryad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez to choose from.
Grealish and Mahrez were given the nod in the Community Shield, but Manchester City looked a better attacking force with Foden and Alvarez on the pitch.
After a lengthy VAR review, Alvarez did score on his competitive debut for City and he could also be used through the middle as a backup option for Haaland if his minutes are going to be monitored.