Our 3️⃣ points as Erling Haaland wows on his Premier League debut | OneFootball

Erling Haaland got off to a flyer in the Premier League as his two goals sunk West Ham at the London Stadium.

This is what we made of it.

Community what?

After a glaring miss in the Community Shield, Haaland received his fair share of criticism as questions were raised about his suitability for Manchester City and the Premier League in general.

But those doubts soon disappeared as the 22-year-old won and then converted a penalty early in Manchester City’s win over West Ham as he put in a devastating performance on his debut.

In fact, that goal meant that he had scored with his first shot on target in the Premier League and his second goal was even better.

A sublime pass from Kevin De Bruyne saw Haaland in on goal, and an ordinary debutant may have let nerves get the better of them. Yet the former Borussia Dortmund man made no mistake and slotted home to make his miss in the Community Shield a distant memory.

The potential of the partnership between De Bruyne and Haaland should strike fear into the hearts of the other top flight sides, as we’ve already seen a glimpse of what they can do together.

Haaland’s pace, combined with his height, sublime skill and ability to finish could well make him unplayable this season.

The fact he was disappointed not to get a hat-trick said it all.

Wide wingers

Pep Guardiola had a surprise in store as he tweaked his system to maximise the impact of having Haaland up front.

Phil Foden and Jack Grealish played much wider than normal as out-and-out wingers to play a more direct style and put balls into the middle of the box.

Grealish found Haaland on six occasions, while Foden put a successful ball into the big centre-forward twice.

Full-backs Kyle Walker and João Cancelo pushed forward into midfield and played narrow, leaving a back two of Nathan Aké and Rúben Diaz.

Pushing so many players forward will have completely outfoxed West Ham, leaving it almost impossible to play through Guardiola’s system.

West Ham didn’t have a sniff

It took 60 minutes for West Ham to have a shot on target and boss David Moyes would do well to write this off as a free hit on the opening day of the season.

The Hammers had less than 25% possession in what was their opening match in front of their own fans, and to make matters worse, it didn’t really feel like their opponents had got out of second gear.

They were unfortunate to lose their goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański through injury but that didn’t have any bearing on what was essentially a toothless display from a side that finished seventh in the Premier League last season.

Moyes can take some comfort in the fact that they face new boys Nottingham Forest next week but even so, his side will need to improve if they want to put some points on the board.