GiveMeSport
·17 January 2023
Erling Haaland: Ian Wright's fascinating analysis of Man City striker vs Man Utd

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·17 January 2023
Ian Wright produced some fascinating analysis of Erling Haaland during Saturday’s Manchester derby while appearing on Match of the Day.
Haaland was extremely quiet during the 90 minutes at Old Trafford and couldn’t prevent his side from losing 2-1.
The Norwegian has now failed to score in his three appearances for Man City in 2023.
His goalscoring stats are still ridiculous, with 27 goals in 24 matches in all competitions this season. However, incredibly, there are now a fewquestion marks hanging over him.
City are eight points behind Arsenal at the top of the Premier League and, following the loss to Man Utd, former City midfielder Didi Hamann suggested his ex-club were better WITHOUT Haaland.
It may have been an incredibly reactive tweet from Hamann but even Pep Guardiola admitted his side are finding it ‘difficult’ to get the ball to him.
“At the moment we have that process because when teams are sat in their 18-yard box, it is more difficult but we have to find him a little bit more, yes,” Guardiola said.
“(Against United) he had enough touches but it’s true that when you are looking at areas and you have to look at him. But we will do it.”
But perhaps the best analysis of Haaland’s involvement against United came from Wright on Match of the Day.
The legendary Premier League striker knows a thing or two about playing upfront in England’s top-flight and his minute or so segment on Haaland was fascinating.
“It’s almost as if they don’t know what his strengths are,” Wright began.
“He wants to attack the back. He wants to go long,” Wright continued as he showed numerous clips of Haaland making runs in behind United’s defence but being completely ignored.
“If they’re not going to be passing it through because they’re passing it around, then they’re not going to get the best out of this guy – and look how many goals he’s scored already,” Wright added.
“People are talking about him not having many touches, he doesn’t need many touches when you play him the ball when he’s running in that direction.
“It was a very frustrating day and they’re going to have to start using him like that.”
The number of clips where City should have just slid Haaland in through on goal but opted for another pass is actually alarming.
Haaland is still six goals clear of Harry Kane in the Premier League top goalscorer charts and City certainly aren’t out of the title race just yet.
But even Guardiola knows that they’re going to have start getting Haaland into dangerous positions once again if they’re to catch Arsenal this season.
Attempting to find his runs with a through ball or two would be a good place to start.