OneFootball
Dan Burke·9 August 2022
OneFootball
Dan Burke·9 August 2022
The Premier League returned this weekend and what an interesting opening round of fixtures it was.
Our Player of the Week is âŠ
They say you only get one chance to make a first impression, but Manchester Cityâs summer star striker signing appears to have had three debuts.
Haaland scored on his first outing in a City shirt, sliding in to convert Jack Grealishâs cross in a pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich on the other side of the world last month.
His competitive debut for the club was a little less impressive, as he squandered some great chances in the Community Shield defeat to Liverpool and looked like he might need some time to adapt to English football.
Then, eight days later, he made his blistering Premier League debut, and suddenly it looks more like it is English football that will need some time to adapt to Haaland.
Perhaps it was Cityâs Borussia Dortmund-esque third kit which helped the Norwegian find his bearings on Sunday, but from the moment he winked at the TV camera while waiting to take the kick-off, it was clear he was determined to enjoy himself at the London Stadium.
The 194cm Nordic meat shield (to borrow a phrase popular on social media at the moment) fired a couple of early warnings at West Ham when he first couldnât quite get his head onto a cross into the box, then couldnât quite get his toe onto another.
His next major involvement in the game saw him latch onto an Ä°lkay GĂŒndoÄanâs pass with a frightening burst of pace for a man of his size, and it clearly took Alphonse Areola by surprise as all the Hammersâ goalkeeper could do was helplessly bundle Haaland over for a stonewall penalty.
The 22-year-old grabbed the ball, put it down on the spot and coolly stroked it into the corner for his first Premier League goal. Then he performed his trademark celebration, just in case there was any doubt about who he is and what heâs here for.
If you had closed your eyes over the summer and tried to imagine what Manchester City might look like with Haaland up front, chances are you probably imagined something similar to his second goal of the afternoon.
Kevin De Bruyne played the line-breaking precision through ball, which Haaland pursued like a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex chasing down its lunch, and without breaking stride he adjusted his body perfectly to slot left-footed into the corner. Get used to that kind of thing, itâs going to happen quite often.
Haaland only made 23 passes in the 78 minutes he was on the pitch â the fewest of any City player on the day â but his mere presence is enough to make opposing defenders second guess everything they do and if he gets a chance, youâd better hope and pray he doesnât take it.
The fact he described his failure to score a hat-trick on his first Premier League outing as âa bit shitâ in a post-match interview with Sky tells you all you need to know about his mentality, and the bad news for Bournemouth is that he still has one more debut to come â his Etihad Stadium bow next Saturday.