Manchester City need to reboot Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian goal machine has drawn a blank in his last three Premier League outings for the reigning champions. He’s still the leading goalscorer in the English top-flight with 10 goals in eight matches, but Pep Guardiola’s men have been having to eke out results during this goalless run for the two-time Golden Boot winner.
How has the 24-year-old gone from being in the form of his life, scoring nine goals in just four Premier League matches, to becoming a bit of a concern for his Catalan coach?
Because, like it or not, his form is going to be viewed as a concern by those at the Eithad. His performances have been on the wane over recent weeks.
Haaland recorded a Football Critic match rating of 6.4 versus Newcastle United. He followed this up with a rating of six against Fulham before posting a 2024 low of 5.3 in Manchester City’s narrow win over Wolves.
The former Borussia Dortmund striker has been a non-entity for the champions in recent weeks. This drop-off in form coincides with the Cityzens losing Rodri. The Spanish destroyer has been missing since the 2-2 draw with Arsenal and that is the last time Haaland found the back of the net in the Premier League.
It is too simplistic to put this barren run of form down to the absence of Rodri. City still have a stacked squad. Their midfield contains the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva. Savio, Jeremy Doku and Phil Foden are still supplying the powerhouse No9 with the ammunition needed to be a threat.
Haaland has taken nine shots across his last three Premier League appearances. He had five in the draw with the Magpies and four against Fulham. Surprisingly, he struggled to get involved against bottom-of-the-table Wolves, failing to have a single shot while finishing the game having attempted just eight passes at Molineux.
The issue for Haaland is that he’s been taking low-value efforts. His four shots against Marco Silva’s side had an Expected Goals value of just 0.25. (FB Ref)
Even a sharpshooter like Haaland is going to struggle to do anything with those sorts of opportunities. He’s getting the ball in the final third but he’s making the wrong choices.
There’s an impatience to his game that hasn’t really been seen before. Not during his time in England anyway.
He’s rushing efforts.
Against Fulham, half of his efforts arrived from outside of the area. Had he held onto the ball and looked to develop that attack, a better opportunity may have come his way. Against Newcastle, three of his shots were blocked. Those shots weren’t necessarily on but you could tell he was trying to force it. He had an xG total of 0.45 against the Magpies. Again, this highlights low-value efforts.
He’s making the wrong choice, time and time again. For a player praised for his ruthlessness, he couldn’t be further removed from that tag at the moment.
Not only is this impacting Haaland personally but this is also having a negative impact on Manchester City as a team. During this three-game stretch, the Cityzens have had to come from behind against Fulham and Wolves. They lost the xG battle against Fulham and Newcastle while only narrowly creating better chances than Gary O’Neil’s side on Sunday.
City are usually famed for their patience and their ability to wear the opposition down. Right now, this isn’t the case. They’re giving up chances and not creating big ones for themselves. A key reason for that is Haaland.
The robot has malfunctioned. The reliable goal threat is now inconsistent, frustrating and unreliable. Guardiola needs to do a hard reset on his number nine before his performances in the final third start to hurt the champions. Their performances right now aren’t sustainable. They need Haaland firing, especially after selling his backup Julian Alvarez in the summer.
