Erling Haaland Is A Goal Machine

There was something very fitting about Erling Haaland celebrating his first goal against Bournemouth on Sunday by pretending to be a robot.

The Norwegian has hitherto operated like a finely-tuned machine this season and his brace in Manchester City’s 3-1 win took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games.

The only player to have scored more goals at the same stage of a Premier League season? Haaland himself, of course, who netted 15 in the 2022-23 season, while Les Ferdinand scored 13 for Newcastle three decades ago.

The Norwegian has now scored a staggering 98 times in 107 appearances in the league and has already found the net 26 times for club and country this term.

To put his brilliance into context, the 25-year-old accounts for 68.4 percent of City’s Premier League goals this term, by far the highest rate of any player in the league.

Jean-Philippe Mateta and Igor Thiago are joint-second on the list, scoring 42.9 percent of Crystal Palace and Brentford’s league goals tally respectively.

Put it another way, City’s second-most prolific player in the Premier League isn’t even a City player, but Burnley defender Maxime Esteve who scored two own goals in the Clarets’ 5-1 shellacking at the Etihad in September.

Phil Foden, Tijjani ­Reijnders, Matheus Nunes, Rayan Cherki have all scored once in the Premier League, with Nico O’Reilly joining the list on Sunday as he scored City’s third.

Haaland has also scored four of City’s six goals in the Champions League this season.

Does Haaland belong in the conversation with Ronaldo and Messi?

City’s No 9, by all metrics, is in a league of its own and Pep Guardiola believes he belongs in the conversation with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Have you seen the numbers of that guy? Of course he has [to be on the same level as them],” Guardiola said after the game.

“The numbers from Cristiano and Messi have been for 15 years, Messi is still scoring two, three goals every game and Cristiano in Saudi Arabia, the same. This is that level.”

On Friday, Guardiola had urged his players to take some of the goalscoring burden off Haaland and after the game admitted City would have struggled without him this season.

“To give the chances and the passes to him, this is what we have to do,” he continued.

“He knows that, but we are so blessed and lucky to have, first of all, an incredible person because he is the sweetest and kindest.

“And he will improve. After that, as a player the numbers are just outstanding […] Without him, it would be tough to be honest.”

It is no coincidence that City’s defeat against Aston Villa last week came as the Norwegian failed to score for only the second time this season.

“I didn’t score last game,” Haaland told Sky Sports after the final whistle.

“I try to help the team to win – that’s my goal.

“Even by scoring, helping or winning duels, it doesn’t matter as long as we are winning games. I want to help the team become a better football team, that’s my job.”

How City beat Bournemouth at their own game

City, who moved up to second in the Premier League six points behind Arsenal with the win, beat Bournemouth at their own game on Sunday.

Taking advantage of the Cherries’ high defensive line, City repeatedly broke in behind with Haaland doing the rest.

With 17 minutes played, Haaland headed the ball towards Nico Gonzalez in City’s half and motored forward, while the latter fed Rayan Cherki.

The French midfielder in turn headed the ball into the Norwegian’s path, who galloped past Adrien Truffert before finishing smartly.

Sixteen minutes later, after Tyler Adams brought Bournemouth level, Haaland restored City’s lead with another lightning quick break.

Cherki was again the provider, feeding his teammate who cut into the box, rounded goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic and then tapped home.

And if City are too reliant on Haaland’s goals, the growing partnership between him and Cherki, a summer signing from Lyon, bodes well for Guardiola’s team.

“I know Erling, he knows me. When I play with him and he with me, it’s very simple,” Cherki said.

“My job is give the ball to Erling and he scores.”

Bournemouth came into the game with the most goals scored from a fast break in the Premier League this season with five and Andoni Iraola admitted Haaland had given his side a taste of their own medicine.

“You lose one metre against Haaland, you are not recovering,” he said.

“It is going to be three metres at the end of the play. You sit deeper and maybe Haaland scores two headers at the second post because maybe they have 25 crosses.”

Tellingly, City now sit second in that metric with four goals from a fast break through the first 10 games of the season, one more than they managed in the whole of last term.

While that does not mean they have abandoned Guardiola’s preferred intricate build-up in favour of a more direct route, Bournemouth had more of the ball – 52 percent to 48 – and completed more passes – 521 to 493 – on Sunday.

But as Guardiola noted, there is more than one way to win a game, particularly with Haaland in this form.

Arsenal continue to set the pace in the Premier League, but if the Norwegian keeps scoring at this rate City remain right in the thick of the title race.