Erling Haaland is incessantly portrayed as a deadly Scandinavian footballing machine whose sole objective is to compute the best technique to rating targets.
It’s a tempting technique to describe a 6ft 4in (194cm) Norwegian whose goalscoring information are on one other stage — it’s now 97 targets in 102 appearances for Manchester Metropolis if you happen to had been questioning.
Most of Haaland’s targets for Metropolis are one-touch finishes contained in the penalty space — a results of being in the fitting place on the proper time. His beautiful off-ball motion means that he’s normally within the appropriate place, and that’s complemented by fixed scanning of his environment.
They’re the kind of targets that current Haaland as an inevitable cyborg — however that’s not totally honest. Trying previous his medical strikes opens up a wealthy seam of method and artistry in Haaland’s ending.
With seven targets in three Premier League video games this season, Erling Haaland is… inevitable (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Pictures)
In his first season with Metropolis, Haaland scored solely as soon as from exterior the penalty space, away to Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 2022. That’s not the importance of the objective although, as a result of what he does is extra vital than the place he does it.
Right here, Haaland receives the ball along with his left foot and it’s Maximilian Kilman up towards him…
Kilman is anticipating Haaland to shift the ball onto his stronger left foot, which is obvious from the centre-back’s physique form. Nevertheless, the Metropolis striker dummies a transfer in direction of his left foot…
… after which pushes the ball in direction of his proper, which forces Kilman to alter his physique orientation by rotating clockwise…
… and dropping sight of the ball for a second.
That fraction of a second is sufficient for Haaland to strike the ball into the underside nook.
Curiously, he shoots in direction of the aspect from which Kilman has simply rotated away. That makes the shot tougher to dam as a result of the defender’s torque is shifting him within the different course.
One other function of Haaland’s sport that’s typically neglected is his capacity to make use of each toes to create the very best taking pictures angle and end possibilities shortly.
On this instance, towards Nottingham Forest final April, Kevin De Bruyne finds Haaland close to the penalty space, and Murillo positions himself in a manner that forces Haaland to go onto his weaker proper foot. The Metropolis striker makes use of his left foot to dribble into area…
… however then shortly shoots along with his proper earlier than Forest’s goalkeeper can shut down the angle. On this occasion, Haaland’s capacity to make use of his left and proper foot in conjunction permits him a less-than-a-second benefit in comparison with dribbling along with his left after which taking pictures with the identical foot.
In a way more current instance, towards West Ham United final Saturday, Haaland is ready to obtain Rico Lewis’ cross contained in the penalty space with Emerson Palmieri the closest defender to the Metropolis striker. Lewis performs the cross to Haaland…
… and Emerson strikes in direction of him, however the Norwegian controls the ball along with his proper foot towards the course of the left-back’s motion…
… and curls it into the highest of the web. Once more, by receiving along with his proper and instantly taking pictures along with his left Haaland saves a fraction of a second in comparison with solely utilizing his left foot.
One other key level right here is that his first contact strikes the ball towards the course of Emerson’s motion, which makes it tougher to dam the shot as a result of the left-back’s physique weight is residing on his left foot and he’s attempting to dam with an unbalanced proper.
Haaland takes a threat by controlling the ball again in direction of the centre, the place there may be much less area, relatively than letting the ball roll throughout him, as a result of the primary possibility offers a greater taking pictures angle. And it really works as a result of he takes Emerson out by organising the shot in the wrong way of the left-back’s motion, along with the velocity of the execution on account of utilizing each toes.
Whether or not Haaland controls the ball along with his left or proper foot depends upon the scenario and the place he needs to shoot from. On this instance, towards Leicester Metropolis in April 2023, De Bruyne performs the ball into the trail of Haaland on an attacking transition.
In opposition to an unorganised defence, Haaland pushes the ball into area along with his first contact through the use of his left foot to maintain it away from Leicester’s central centre-back, Harry Souttar, and the goalkeeper…
… earlier than dinking it over the latter to attain one more objective. The distinction is minimal, but when Haaland makes use of his proper foot to push the ball ahead, there’s a larger likelihood of it being nearer to Souttar and the goalkeeper when he takes the shot.
In one other instance, from the 1-1 draw towards Liverpool in November, Haaland is positioned between Virgil van Dijk (No 4) and Joel Matip (No 32) when Nathan Ake performs the ball to him.
First, Haaland is positioned exterior the goalposts when he receives the ball, which signifies that pushing it away from Van Dijk and Alisson along with his left foot is a non-starter as a result of the taking pictures angle is already slender.
As an alternative, Haaland controls the ball along with his proper relatively than his left to distance it from Matip and permit him to shortly use his left on the next motion…
… through which he units up the shot…
… and places the ball into the far backside nook.
The ultimate instance is from Metropolis’s 2-0 victory towards Chelsea final month. Right here, Bernardo Silva flicks the ball to Haaland contained in the penalty space…
… and the Norwegian controls it along with his proper…
… however dribbles along with his left as an alternative of taking pictures…
… then makes use of his proper once more to have the ability to shortly shoot along with his left…
… which he ultimately does when he chips the ball into the again of the web.
The rationale behind the delayed shot was that Haaland predicted that Robert Sanchez would keep on his line.
“Final 12 months, Sanchez had a fantastic save on me as a result of he stays lots on the road,” Haaland informed Sky Sports activities after the sport. “That’s why I took a few further touches, then he was speeding out and I knew precisely what to do.”
Most of the time, Haaland will rating with a one-touch end as a result of he’s within the excellent place and that’s all he must do. Nevertheless, there shall be different conditions the place extra work is required and the Metropolis striker is aware of exactly what to do there, too.
Generally Haaland’s ending would possibly look robotic, however look just a little nearer and the artistry turns into clear.
(High picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
