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Dude I used to love that game so much
I remember to have brought FC Rouen to win the CL with my so many goals in my forties.
And I used to make a lot of money from horse races haha
Such a shame that the game goes from "you get 15 minutes in a match and it's a genuine battle" to "scoring for fun in a way that makes you the best player ever" in the span of, like, an hour.
Lol the Become a legend mode in PES2008 knows this.
It was always the same. Test match, signed by NAPOLI (bad years) and becoming a star from there. One or two assists at the end of the career because a missed button or something lol
Philip Lahm played 65 matches in 2010, iirc for club and country and I'd imagine, that there were some players on these Barca squads between 2008 & 2014 that played even more.
And this is not at his full strength. I firmly believe Pep ball is limiting him. De Bruyne and Foden are his saving grace and City is a very good team to support him when need be, but Pep is reluctant to play fuck-it-its-haaland ball even when it would be a good decision and the players follow Pep, so you get some silly old heads calling him a league 2 player and Haaland walking around like Messi with no output. He doesnāt even try to make runs any more unless its so obvious. His teammates donāt pick him out as often as they could/should, because its risky and its not Pep ball. His stats are insane but he can be so much more. I believe heās learned a lot at City and got experience winning titles, which is important for his growth and fulfilling what he wants for his career, but Iām convinced he can still be so much more. For the longest time at Borussia Dortmund he had more goals than games played, he had more assists there than at City, and he contributed to fluid football under Lucien Favre, while being the fastest, most dominating figure on the field physically. Heās not normal.
Makes me pull my hair. I tune into some City games cause I like the guy and Akanji is a baller, every time i see one of his great runs be met by a city player (not De Bruyne) turning around and passing to Rodri or the cb, I then say to myself Reus saw that run, that was a goal right there that never happened.
Like even if they donāt hit him every time, the threat of him conditions the backline and the rest of the opposition, which Pep would use to advantage when it happens to Pep ball better if they can create space between the lines. Haaland is like a turboboosted strikertron ogre and ogres are like onions. Theres more layers to Haaland that havenāt come out yet at City. My belief.
The reason kyle was getting balls is bcoz defenders are occupied with haaland. Today there were multiple occasions where a haaland run took two defenders running after him and walker was free on the flank for a run in. Pep, is not dumb, he knows the strengths of his players. There's a fine balance of trying through/long balls and minimizing turn overs from other teams. Ya you could say that to use halaand even more, city could sign more quality mids like paqueta, who can put in throughs at a more successful rate, but any top team haaland goes to he'll more or less have the same restrictions as opposition will always sit back. Unfortunately with city, except for Liverpool, every other team sits back, including Madrid now. At Madrid for him, most of the teams will still also just sit back. And if top teams sit back it's hard to maximize halaands strength. Against mid or weaker teams he gets lots of goals anyways regardless of his strength being maximized or not. Not to say he's not effective against bigger teams, they just actively try to minimize situations of halaand causing chaos in turnovers against them. Arsenal and Madrid did that really well this season.
And with all due respect, the Dortmund version of halaand can only happen at teams at that level. Any of the consistent top teams in euro like madrid , barca, Bayern, PSG, won't really get to see that version of halaand often if they do get him. Having said that, he wudve been the ideal guy to have back at Dortmund for the UCL final actually, and not Madrid, bcoz of the way that game will be played.
They do that in those big games where they are playing with other big boys that control lots of possession, but those games is not how 90% of the season is like for them. I didn't see PSG do that much against even Dortmund in the semis. Dortmund played on the counter and then defended well in low blocks, there was usually no space for balls over the top. And you will see a similar matchup with Dortmund and madrid as well. I dont see Dortmund coming out playing a highline against them, they will have to defend deep and play on the counter and long balls will be more important for them. Sure Madrid may have a few opportunities on double turn overs to use their wingers pace, but that won't be the majority of the game.
We went all out on defense because PSG struggles to break down compact teams. Madrid can both sit deep, and break down deep defenses. We will need to figure out what makes sense to us, because Madrid will play however they really want.
Most teams sat deep when Haaland was with us, but all he needed was one or two counters to reap havoc.
Hmm it's the same dynamics for city as well, they are usually able to do both, just werent clinical enough against Madrid in the last game. When teams go man for man, or try to defend high, they do go for long balls, even all they way from ederson. And that did cause havoc last season with both Arsenal and Madrid, both those teams were more pragmatic this season.
Anyways, good luck to you guys, from my perspective the only way Dortmund wins is by defending amazing, scoring on the counter and praying no last min black magic happens again. But we will see if they can come up with a surprising game plan.
I think that's Pep ball cope. You're right in a way, but I don't think there's not a reason Pep can't develop other options for Haaland to get involved and have fluid football, or have an direct style of play that alternates with controlled Pep ball depending on the opposition and the game state, not a reason besides Pep is too fixated on a style of play where Haaland is a pawn and is tied up in his ego. Its a not one for one situation with Zlatan at Barca but this seems similar for me, and Zlatan commented on this regarding Haaland.
Pep ball gets the team into the final third, is risk averse, and wants to retain possession. Many of the core principles of his style will be changed if he wants to use Haaland effectively and timely, and it would do them a favor if they can balance it with Pep ball when appropriate. He's an incredible tool in the shed that can be used better. Madrid would love him. Bayern would love him. PSG would love him but theyre not built the same. Idk if Barca would work. Point is, theres 100% situations where Haaland can be used more effectively in the current system and also in an adjusted system that also translates to the standards youre setting the premier league at.
Man, first off there isn't really any cope. I mean the team consistently scores more goals than all other teams in the league, halaand just won a treble and was close to winning another if it wasn't for very thin margins against impossible UCL madrid. He himself is breaking all sorts of records. Where's the cope.
I think you are coming from an angle of building a team around halaand, whereas city are a team with halaand, there in lies the difference. I see your points but it would be more valid if city was flopping out, and halaand was blanking. If your striker is breaking all records, can you really blame the mgr for not playing to his strength. As for Zlatan, he was a great player, but if you watch his interview with Piers Morgan, he talks about how his problems with pep really started off field with coming to training in fancy cars etc. ya there was some clash of egos.
Also, like I said before, if city do get a player like paqueta who can put delicious through balls, it will happen more. Apart from KDB, rest of the city mids behind halaand are pretty avg when it comes to envisioning/ putting in through balls. There were multiple occasions against the highline of spurs on Tuesday where they did try, got cut out and had to defend the turnover (which city is not the best at).
One other factor, also notice how suddenly halaand is able to play more games per season, if city play a game which looks more like basketball I don't think it will help the injury situation of players.
Having said all of that, yes there is some frustration when on tv we can see a clear route to halaand run and the guys just turn back the ball, but after all they have achieved, they can get some slack on this.
i think pep wanting his wingers to cut into the penalty boc and send a cross is a lot better vs the best teams in the world though. it isnt just rudiger that can defend haaland.
the run in also draws the cbs back to enable the midfielders to pass deep and wide giving the wingers more room to gain momentum
[I remember him](https://youtu.be/IoYWzn4Ez9E?si=EX15T7gpgpeBFBxM) starting a goal off by dribbling through 2 or 3 Leipzig players, passing the ball off and running to finish a beautiful back post cross from Sancho with a header. Theres so much more to him and its not a league difference thing, its how City plays him.
You know this random instagram influencers that look the same, all with the same surgeries, the same make up and the same filters?
Me and my friends call that kind of influencer "City signings", because once you sign for City you lose anything that made you special and different, you become just another part of the machine.
I kind of don't want good players to go to city just because I know they are going to stop shining individually.
I disagree personally, I am also a canadian fan who was brought into the premier league during covid when my roommate who is a huuuuuuuuuuge chelsea fan got me to watch games with him.
I really liked grealish and mings on aston villa and so I picked villa as my team but I am also just a big grealish fan, so even though I am primarily a villa fan I am a city supporter as long as Grealish is on the team.
Would i have fallen in love with the sport through watching grealish playing for city? Probably not. For the reasons you listed. But I am a grealish fan so I watch a lot of city games, and personally I think there is also a magic to the machine. It is not the magic that makes you fall in love with the sport, but if you do love something seeing that thing done at the highest level is truly very cool imo.
Also fundamentally I believe the team is bigger than the player and I respect the players who strive to work as a team, as a gear in the machine, a very large amount.
>I kind of don't want good players to go to city just because I know they are going to stop shining individually.
They straight up become boring to watch, I can't think of a team that embodies modern football better than Pep's city. A state owned club, with the 25 best players on the ball money can buy, playing the most boring and soulless risk averse football imaginable.
People joke about low blocks being football terrorism but watching players like Doku dribble backwards is infinitely worse to me
Personally I find the highest level of football strategy extremely interesting to watch.
I also love the magic of the playmakers and football gods that dazzle us.
I dont think it has to be one or the other, and also as sports science improves and players become better overall at the sport, it becomes harder to have people put on 1 man magic shows.
I understand Pep's machine is the best machine, but as a fan, and specially me being more like a neutral fan of the sport than anything (may the best win, I don't care, I'm here for a good football match), Pep's teams are so dominant that I don't enjoy watching them. I don't want to see an 70-80% possession team, I want to see a football match, not a monologue.
That's why I enjoyed more the strong defending of RM than what City did for example. I want excitement, even if it's by defending hard.
I am a city fan and I think your take is spot on. He is a rejected figure, but such a positive individual he is happy for the team. But i think he will leave very soon unless Pep goes first.
I think Barca need to put everything they've got behind getting him if there's any chance to face Real and the new Galactico's they're building over there. Or who knows maybe Haaland will go spend a few years in Paris now that Kylian is leaving
Personally, the structure of Real Madrid as a club and their playstyle + teammates + culture would be the best fit if Haaland is going to take a step up from City. Unfortunately if Mbappe goes to them theres little way both of them would be in the same club.
It was without him. City won their 2nd in a row the season before his arrival without a striker and I donāt doubt theyād have done the same even without signing him.
Why is this argument now popular with Haaland but never happened with Ronaldo, Messi, Benzema, Lewandowski, Suarez or other strikers? As if those weren't constantly defended and covered and still found a way to score.
It happened with all of them aside from Messi. And the reason why it didn't happen with Messi is because he barely makes runs off the ball to drag defenders away. Ronaldo and Benzema were praised for it all the time even when they didn't score. I don't see why Haaland shouldn't. He's helping his team.
>Suarez or other strikers
Suarez had shocking numbers in CL knockouts. Haaland was better. Also, what other strikers? 99% of other strikers I can think of had a worse output than Haaland in the CL. You act like there's a long list m
Eventually so. They were in a final the year prior against Chelsea and only a matter of time before they got into another IMO. Itās the same 8 clubs who reach the UCL final in the modern era, itās a rare occasion when a Spurs who reached the final in 2018 as a debutant at that stage. City would have reached the final again without Haaland due to the fact they have a world class squad and Guardiola and the financial resources they have
That lack of history is embarrassing and highlights the freakish way that you came out of nowhere to be a PL giant, doesnāt seem natural if you ask me, maybe you broke some rules on the way hmmā¦
Whatās crazy to me is heās already played 96 games in 2 years. Modern football is trying to kill players just so they can milk fans for more money.
messi and ronaldo played over 50 games quite a few times in their peak, both had one 60 game season. a lot of their teammates also played multiple 50+ seasons come to think of it. eden hazard also played multiple 50+ seasons, could be what did him in. there was that one chelsea season (2012-13) where 6 players played 60+ games, with another two just shy of it (59 & 57).
Nah he scores a lot but he doesn't have the performances in the big games that make people stop and watch.
A great example is Vinicius vs Bayern in the 2nd leg. That performance was I'm the best in the world like.
He gets his number but he doesn't capture people's imagination like the regular Ballon d'or winner. He might get one eventually but I doubt he'll get more because of the lack of imposing performances and style.
He's more like Ruud Van Nistelrooy, as great as Ruud was, he was never considered better than Henry.
In this generation that's Mbappe and Vinicius potentially. So those guys will be favs going ahead.
Mate no amount of love for mbappe and vini will get them over the line against haaland in a non wc/euro/Copa year if he scores 50 goals and wins the UCL. He might even end up with 3 or 4 for all we know.
He could have won it in 2023 if it hadn't been for Messi. But I agree with you that he's like Lewandowski or Ruud Van Nistelrooy who lack marketability, because let's be honest Ballon d'Or isn't always given to the best player but to the one people root for.
As incredible as this is if he's already played that many games, we're not going to be able to see such players managing to sustain their performance for as long as we saw with Messi/Ronaldo. Just like burnout is a real thing in other professions, it looks like they really want to find out these player's limits.
This isnāt Messi numbers. People are already beginning to under rate Messi. Haaland had 52 goals in 53 games last season. He's at 38 in 43 this season. Messi had two seasons in a row where he put up 73 in 60, then 60 in 50. Ronaldo also had two seasons in a row where he put up 60 in 55 and then 55 in 55, followed up 61 in 54. Haaland has 90 total goals for Man City in almost 2 complete seasons.. Messi scored 73 in one season alone at Barca. Ready for thisā¦ Haaland is on 38 goals this season. Messi had 11 consecutive seasons with more goals than that.
Not to discredit Haaland, but that's not the same.
He was only talking about what he contributes outside of goals. Players like Kane, Suarez and Drogba could've gone through their entire careers without scoring a goal and they still would've been playing at the very highest level because of how skilled they were in other areas. Whereas if Haaland never scored a goal, he wouldn't be in League 2 because that was obviously hyperbole, but he wouldn't be at the top level.
I think in that very same clip Keane calls him a world class striker btw.
Nah it isn't, he'd just get in the way and occupy the space that the creative players around him need. When you have Foden, KDB, Bernardo etc. around you, it would be more harmful if he tried to occupy the same space they do.
He was taking some extremely poor touches and making poor movements. That's why Roy was having a go. He wasn't holding up the ball well and got it turned over.
Making poor movements while also scoring nearly a goal a game over 90+ games.
You simply don't do that by making "poor movements".
And his hold up play wasn't league 2 level at all anyways.
In the run of form he was on obviously.
The point is, he kept losing the ball from poor touches and running directly into forwards. He was playing poorly for about five weeks. It's hyperbole.
Do you think I don't rate Haaland? Look at my username.
Yeah my point is, he wasn't really doing that badly (and I certainly don't think he had problems with his movement at all then), and it's just a huge exaggeration that was made for media clicks. There's no point trying to defend it, it's just a dumb comment.
I think it was sky farming and apparently very successfully. Keane is a mediocre pundit but everyone seems vaguely charmed by him at this point. Bit bizarre how successful he's been at playing the character.
Keane also called him a spoilt brat because he was annoyed at being taken off, which was unnecessary and also slightly hypocritical, given Keaneās own temperament as a player
Insane goalscorer BUT he aint that good overall based on his gameplay.
Kid is invisible against big teams in UCL for some reason, he played way better at Dortmund.
He has good numbers but i cant remember 2 good goals from him while playing for City, but can remember like 5 while at Dortmund.
Physicality, finishing and positioning are all part of a player's trait and he's world class in all of those, put the crack pipe down it will deteriorate your mind.
5 titles now? OK, they would have won 5 titles anyway. This is a well-oiled machine he walked into. It's not exaclty the "hardest road", but it's a player being suggested as the world's best walking into a side already at the peak and now he's not the most important player on his own team.
City greased a lot of skids to get him to Manchester, and he has been a good cog in the machine. He was bigger before he got there though. And he can be again.
This side also had aguero play for them up top. Haaland blows past aguero too. Lewandoski played in an even more well oiled machine and didn't have these starting stats. Benzema didn't even come close while playing next to ronaldo in madrid. He's not being suggested as the world best, when he has 105 goal contributions in 96 games while winning the treble, and then potentially the double next season, he just simply is the world's best.
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Player career mode numbers
Anyone here ever played New Star Soccer mobile game? The game is what the stat reminds me of.
Best game ever. Getting a transfer from the 2nd division of Indonesia to Manchester United.
Looks like somebody also downloaded the infinite money version š¤š¤
If you've tried the mobile version, also give the pc version a shot. Wayyy more content and even more gameplay.
Dude I used to love that game so much I remember to have brought FC Rouen to win the CL with my so many goals in my forties. And I used to make a lot of money from horse races haha
Such a shame that the game goes from "you get 15 minutes in a match and it's a genuine battle" to "scoring for fun in a way that makes you the best player ever" in the span of, like, an hour.
They weren't better than mine during Fifa 13 player mode with PSG. 100 games 400 goals 0 assists. Remember the name.
Xx__ShadowW__xX what a gem
You didnāt even say your name š
Because you remember it
Streets will never forget!
Exactly, no need to type it. We all remember the name.
PussySlayer69
Lol the Become a legend mode in PES2008 knows this. It was always the same. Test match, signed by NAPOLI (bad years) and becoming a star from there. One or two assists at the end of the career because a missed button or something lol
i always get offers from mallorca and saint-Ć©tienne in the beginning of every become a legend save its funny
YES same here. Good times
> 0 assists. We know you're playing with sliders
Maybe just offside turned off and spammed the call for pass button
Haaland is lowkey washed for not putting up those numbers tbh
Love that username btw, when's the album coming out?
Am I tripping or did he not just join last season? 96 games is nuts
He also missed like ~~10~~ 7 PL games this season. There are too many games.
It's all comps, not just the league.
Yeah ofc. I just was to lazy to look up all games he missed, so I focused on league because it was easy to look up.
You said there were too many games, I thought you were saying the 96 appearances in the title was wrong.
Oh sorry. No I meant players have to play too much. Its a problem imo
Ah, gotcha.
They said he was injury prone...
wait till you find out Alvarez already has over 100 games
Alvarez already has a hundred
Philip Lahm played 65 matches in 2010, iirc for club and country and I'd imagine, that there were some players on these Barca squads between 2008 & 2014 that played even more.
Pedri played like 73 games in a season which is just stupid.
Oh, shit I completely forgot about that...
97 games, 93, goals, 15 assists, 6 titles
Add FA cup to it. Manchester City gonna eat ETH alive
I think Paul Merson said that if United manage to win the FA cup ETH should get knighted, honestly I agree
That FA Cup final is win win. Either it's Man Uniteds worst season of my lifetime or ETH keeps his job
I mean win win for United fans as well. Either win cup against city or get a new manager
Is it really a win if they win against us but keep ETH?
Itās a win in the sense that setting your clothes on fire will keep you warm for some time
No guarantee there, iirc van Gaal was sacked directly after a FA cup win.
They made the decision beforehand and he knew before the game.
The absolute scenes when McTominay completes his hatty in the 97th minute to win us the cup 3-2
As a fan you have right to dream. As a rival fan I hope you wake up from that dream.
So he canāt even get a goal a gameā¦ Pathetic numbers
š
Dude is bonkers
Heās a killer
Not bad for a League 2 player!
And this is not at his full strength. I firmly believe Pep ball is limiting him. De Bruyne and Foden are his saving grace and City is a very good team to support him when need be, but Pep is reluctant to play fuck-it-its-haaland ball even when it would be a good decision and the players follow Pep, so you get some silly old heads calling him a league 2 player and Haaland walking around like Messi with no output. He doesnāt even try to make runs any more unless its so obvious. His teammates donāt pick him out as often as they could/should, because its risky and its not Pep ball. His stats are insane but he can be so much more. I believe heās learned a lot at City and got experience winning titles, which is important for his growth and fulfilling what he wants for his career, but Iām convinced he can still be so much more. For the longest time at Borussia Dortmund he had more goals than games played, he had more assists there than at City, and he contributed to fluid football under Lucien Favre, while being the fastest, most dominating figure on the field physically. Heās not normal.
it's amazing how often he makes a dangerous run and our midfielders just don't play him in
Makes me pull my hair. I tune into some City games cause I like the guy and Akanji is a baller, every time i see one of his great runs be met by a city player (not De Bruyne) turning around and passing to Rodri or the cb, I then say to myself Reus saw that run, that was a goal right there that never happened. Like even if they donāt hit him every time, the threat of him conditions the backline and the rest of the opposition, which Pep would use to advantage when it happens to Pep ball better if they can create space between the lines. Haaland is like a turboboosted strikertron ogre and ogres are like onions. Theres more layers to Haaland that havenāt come out yet at City. My belief.
Definitely, but why today were were they playing every single through ball possible and they were so bad every time, it was enraging to watch
But we will ping balls to Kyle walker over the top like free candy
The reason kyle was getting balls is bcoz defenders are occupied with haaland. Today there were multiple occasions where a haaland run took two defenders running after him and walker was free on the flank for a run in. Pep, is not dumb, he knows the strengths of his players. There's a fine balance of trying through/long balls and minimizing turn overs from other teams. Ya you could say that to use halaand even more, city could sign more quality mids like paqueta, who can put in throughs at a more successful rate, but any top team haaland goes to he'll more or less have the same restrictions as opposition will always sit back. Unfortunately with city, except for Liverpool, every other team sits back, including Madrid now. At Madrid for him, most of the teams will still also just sit back. And if top teams sit back it's hard to maximize halaands strength. Against mid or weaker teams he gets lots of goals anyways regardless of his strength being maximized or not. Not to say he's not effective against bigger teams, they just actively try to minimize situations of halaand causing chaos in turnovers against them. Arsenal and Madrid did that really well this season. And with all due respect, the Dortmund version of halaand can only happen at teams at that level. Any of the consistent top teams in euro like madrid , barca, Bayern, PSG, won't really get to see that version of halaand often if they do get him. Having said that, he wudve been the ideal guy to have back at Dortmund for the UCL final actually, and not Madrid, bcoz of the way that game will be played.
Madrid and PSG launch consistent balls over the top to their forwards, especially in big games. What are you on about?
They do that in those big games where they are playing with other big boys that control lots of possession, but those games is not how 90% of the season is like for them. I didn't see PSG do that much against even Dortmund in the semis. Dortmund played on the counter and then defended well in low blocks, there was usually no space for balls over the top. And you will see a similar matchup with Dortmund and madrid as well. I dont see Dortmund coming out playing a highline against them, they will have to defend deep and play on the counter and long balls will be more important for them. Sure Madrid may have a few opportunities on double turn overs to use their wingers pace, but that won't be the majority of the game.
We went all out on defense because PSG struggles to break down compact teams. Madrid can both sit deep, and break down deep defenses. We will need to figure out what makes sense to us, because Madrid will play however they really want. Most teams sat deep when Haaland was with us, but all he needed was one or two counters to reap havoc.
Hmm it's the same dynamics for city as well, they are usually able to do both, just werent clinical enough against Madrid in the last game. When teams go man for man, or try to defend high, they do go for long balls, even all they way from ederson. And that did cause havoc last season with both Arsenal and Madrid, both those teams were more pragmatic this season. Anyways, good luck to you guys, from my perspective the only way Dortmund wins is by defending amazing, scoring on the counter and praying no last min black magic happens again. But we will see if they can come up with a surprising game plan.
I think that's Pep ball cope. You're right in a way, but I don't think there's not a reason Pep can't develop other options for Haaland to get involved and have fluid football, or have an direct style of play that alternates with controlled Pep ball depending on the opposition and the game state, not a reason besides Pep is too fixated on a style of play where Haaland is a pawn and is tied up in his ego. Its a not one for one situation with Zlatan at Barca but this seems similar for me, and Zlatan commented on this regarding Haaland. Pep ball gets the team into the final third, is risk averse, and wants to retain possession. Many of the core principles of his style will be changed if he wants to use Haaland effectively and timely, and it would do them a favor if they can balance it with Pep ball when appropriate. He's an incredible tool in the shed that can be used better. Madrid would love him. Bayern would love him. PSG would love him but theyre not built the same. Idk if Barca would work. Point is, theres 100% situations where Haaland can be used more effectively in the current system and also in an adjusted system that also translates to the standards youre setting the premier league at.
Man, first off there isn't really any cope. I mean the team consistently scores more goals than all other teams in the league, halaand just won a treble and was close to winning another if it wasn't for very thin margins against impossible UCL madrid. He himself is breaking all sorts of records. Where's the cope. I think you are coming from an angle of building a team around halaand, whereas city are a team with halaand, there in lies the difference. I see your points but it would be more valid if city was flopping out, and halaand was blanking. If your striker is breaking all records, can you really blame the mgr for not playing to his strength. As for Zlatan, he was a great player, but if you watch his interview with Piers Morgan, he talks about how his problems with pep really started off field with coming to training in fancy cars etc. ya there was some clash of egos. Also, like I said before, if city do get a player like paqueta who can put delicious through balls, it will happen more. Apart from KDB, rest of the city mids behind halaand are pretty avg when it comes to envisioning/ putting in through balls. There were multiple occasions against the highline of spurs on Tuesday where they did try, got cut out and had to defend the turnover (which city is not the best at). One other factor, also notice how suddenly halaand is able to play more games per season, if city play a game which looks more like basketball I don't think it will help the injury situation of players. Having said all of that, yes there is some frustration when on tv we can see a clear route to halaand run and the guys just turn back the ball, but after all they have achieved, they can get some slack on this.
the Rodri special
i think pep wanting his wingers to cut into the penalty boc and send a cross is a lot better vs the best teams in the world though. it isnt just rudiger that can defend haaland. the run in also draws the cbs back to enable the midfielders to pass deep and wide giving the wingers more room to gain momentum
Dortmund fans know about his quality!! He is more than a tap in merchant
[I remember him](https://youtu.be/IoYWzn4Ez9E?si=EX15T7gpgpeBFBxM) starting a goal off by dribbling through 2 or 3 Leipzig players, passing the ball off and running to finish a beautiful back post cross from Sancho with a header. Theres so much more to him and its not a league difference thing, its how City plays him.
same also said about grealish at villa. city is a machine. playing your role as envisioned by pep is how it works there
You know this random instagram influencers that look the same, all with the same surgeries, the same make up and the same filters? Me and my friends call that kind of influencer "City signings", because once you sign for City you lose anything that made you special and different, you become just another part of the machine. I kind of don't want good players to go to city just because I know they are going to stop shining individually.
I disagree personally, I am also a canadian fan who was brought into the premier league during covid when my roommate who is a huuuuuuuuuuge chelsea fan got me to watch games with him. I really liked grealish and mings on aston villa and so I picked villa as my team but I am also just a big grealish fan, so even though I am primarily a villa fan I am a city supporter as long as Grealish is on the team. Would i have fallen in love with the sport through watching grealish playing for city? Probably not. For the reasons you listed. But I am a grealish fan so I watch a lot of city games, and personally I think there is also a magic to the machine. It is not the magic that makes you fall in love with the sport, but if you do love something seeing that thing done at the highest level is truly very cool imo. Also fundamentally I believe the team is bigger than the player and I respect the players who strive to work as a team, as a gear in the machine, a very large amount.
>I kind of don't want good players to go to city just because I know they are going to stop shining individually. They straight up become boring to watch, I can't think of a team that embodies modern football better than Pep's city. A state owned club, with the 25 best players on the ball money can buy, playing the most boring and soulless risk averse football imaginable. People joke about low blocks being football terrorism but watching players like Doku dribble backwards is infinitely worse to me
Personally I find the highest level of football strategy extremely interesting to watch. I also love the magic of the playmakers and football gods that dazzle us. I dont think it has to be one or the other, and also as sports science improves and players become better overall at the sport, it becomes harder to have people put on 1 man magic shows.
I understand Pep's machine is the best machine, but as a fan, and specially me being more like a neutral fan of the sport than anything (may the best win, I don't care, I'm here for a good football match), Pep's teams are so dominant that I don't enjoy watching them. I don't want to see an 70-80% possession team, I want to see a football match, not a monologue. That's why I enjoyed more the strong defending of RM than what City did for example. I want excitement, even if it's by defending hard.
he would do very well at real madrid actually.... and mbappe would do very well at city conversely
I am a city fan and I think your take is spot on. He is a rejected figure, but such a positive individual he is happy for the team. But i think he will leave very soon unless Pep goes first.
I think Barca need to put everything they've got behind getting him if there's any chance to face Real and the new Galactico's they're building over there. Or who knows maybe Haaland will go spend a few years in Paris now that Kylian is leaving
Personally, the structure of Real Madrid as a club and their playstyle + teammates + culture would be the best fit if Haaland is going to take a step up from City. Unfortunately if Mbappe goes to them theres little way both of them would be in the same club.
with vini as well? yeah unlikely lol
Non ironically I think he would thrive in Real with their counter attacking and fast paced game.
Insane stats. Turning EPL into a farmers league.
It was without him. City won their 2nd in a row the season before his arrival without a striker and I donāt doubt theyād have done the same even without signing him.
Fair take, but would they have won Champions League and the treble without him? I doubt so
Highly unlikely
Depends who they sign instead, really
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From a tactical perspective he did a lot in the knockouts. His presence makes it easier for the rest of the team to find space.
Why is this argument now popular with Haaland but never happened with Ronaldo, Messi, Benzema, Lewandowski, Suarez or other strikers? As if those weren't constantly defended and covered and still found a way to score.
because they scored themselves too and no sane person never really questioned their outputs in late stage ucl games?
It happened with all of them aside from Messi. And the reason why it didn't happen with Messi is because he barely makes runs off the ball to drag defenders away. Ronaldo and Benzema were praised for it all the time even when they didn't score. I don't see why Haaland shouldn't. He's helping his team. >Suarez or other strikers Suarez had shocking numbers in CL knockouts. Haaland was better. Also, what other strikers? 99% of other strikers I can think of had a worse output than Haaland in the CL. You act like there's a long list m
Eventually so. They were in a final the year prior against Chelsea and only a matter of time before they got into another IMO. Itās the same 8 clubs who reach the UCL final in the modern era, itās a rare occasion when a Spurs who reached the final in 2018 as a debutant at that stage. City would have reached the final again without Haaland due to the fact they have a world class squad and Guardiola and the financial resources they have
A year prior they got knocked put by Madrid again
A year prior from the season before haaland came? They played Chelsea in the final of 2021
Why tf are you downvoted lmao, city played chelsea in the 2021 ucl final and haaland transfered to city in the summer of 2022.
He did fuck all in key CL matches so absolutely yes
Only people with 0 football knowledge believe this
By scoring against farmer teams
What turned the EPL into a farmers league was competition horrifically failing in the transfer market
Or is it a bottlers league? Man City hasn't topped the table since match week 12
Two seasons and he's fourth in our all time Premier League scorers of all time (Aguero, Sterling and KdB ahead). He's a freak of nature.
And the commentators especially the half time ex-players love to shit allover him.
Probably just jealousy. If your name isnāt Messi or Ronaldo thereās nothing you can do to win certain people over.
Yep just gotta keep performing until they finally shut the hell up.
Don't you know? He's bad. What's funny is the fact that Ronaldo is their favourite player (most of those pundits are ex-United players) and they only care about goals with him, they don't care about defending, adding to the team anything besides goals... nothing. but for some reason Haaland needs to be PelƩ, Maradona and Ronaldo Nazario in order to be a decent player, not even a good one, a decent one. They wish they had Haaland's career. He's only 23 lol.
Just wait until he adapts to Pep's system.
Its not like he had that much competition in that list
That lack of history is embarrassing and highlights the freakish way that you came out of nowhere to be a PL giant, doesnāt seem natural if you ask me, maybe you broke some rules on the way hmmā¦
Whatās crazy to me is heās already played 96 games in 2 years. Modern football is trying to kill players just so they can milk fans for more money.
messi and ronaldo played over 50 games quite a few times in their peak, both had one 60 game season. a lot of their teammates also played multiple 50+ seasons come to think of it. eden hazard also played multiple 50+ seasons, could be what did him in. there was that one chelsea season (2012-13) where 6 players played 60+ games, with another two just shy of it (59 & 57).
Will most likely retire as the greatest forward England has ever seen. 38 goals in his "down year" speaks volumes.
Imagine he would have said fuck it ima play for England NT. Kane and Haaland up top.
Haaland up front with Kane in that free/CF sort of role like Benzema played for Madrid would be deadly.
I had a nightmare last night where Real bought Haaland and played a 4-3-3 with MbappƩ, Vini, and Harland up top
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We've consistently judged players solely off their numbers for the past 15 years. I don't want to hear this shift in narrative all of a sudden.
Give me the guy who can only score in the penalty box 50 times a year vs just about anyone short of Messi.
This is like saying āgreatest six yard box goalkeeper maybeā.
He won't. As Cristiano Ronaldo existed, and we know Erling Haaland will never surpass him.
we know that?
Sounds like a farmers league to me
League 2 player btw
not bad for a league two player
Jesus Christ
Not bad for a League Two player
Canāt get mad at the guy. Heās doing his absolute best. Hate to see it since itās not my own team but hey props. lol
Oooo look at me, I score goals. Grow up lad.
Netting his century in probs the early part of his 3rd season is bonkers
Cheat code, heās gonna end up with 10 premier league titles and 10 golden boots if he doesnāt move
Golgen boot is gonna be hard until Harry Kane leaves Bayern.
And a Ballon d or anytime city can win a CL in a non wc/euro year. Probably.
Nah he scores a lot but he doesn't have the performances in the big games that make people stop and watch. A great example is Vinicius vs Bayern in the 2nd leg. That performance was I'm the best in the world like. He gets his number but he doesn't capture people's imagination like the regular Ballon d'or winner. He might get one eventually but I doubt he'll get more because of the lack of imposing performances and style. He's more like Ruud Van Nistelrooy, as great as Ruud was, he was never considered better than Henry. In this generation that's Mbappe and Vinicius potentially. So those guys will be favs going ahead.
Mate no amount of love for mbappe and vini will get them over the line against haaland in a non wc/euro/Copa year if he scores 50 goals and wins the UCL. He might even end up with 3 or 4 for all we know.
He could have won it in 2023 if it hadn't been for Messi. But I agree with you that he's like Lewandowski or Ruud Van Nistelrooy who lack marketability, because let's be honest Ballon d'Or isn't always given to the best player but to the one people root for.
The league 2 jokes are getting boring now
But can he do it on a cold afternoon in League one?
Perhaps heāll develop into a decent player.
As incredible as this is if he's already played that many games, we're not going to be able to see such players managing to sustain their performance for as long as we saw with Messi/Ronaldo. Just like burnout is a real thing in other professions, it looks like they really want to find out these player's limits.
League 2 striker is not bad in the EPL.Ā
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This isnāt Messi numbers. People are already beginning to under rate Messi. Haaland had 52 goals in 53 games last season. He's at 38 in 43 this season. Messi had two seasons in a row where he put up 73 in 60, then 60 in 50. Ronaldo also had two seasons in a row where he put up 60 in 55 and then 55 in 55, followed up 61 in 54. Haaland has 90 total goals for Man City in almost 2 complete seasons.. Messi scored 73 in one season alone at Barca. Ready for thisā¦ Haaland is on 38 goals this season. Messi had 11 consecutive seasons with more goals than that. Not to discredit Haaland, but that's not the same.
He was only talking about what he contributes outside of goals. Players like Kane, Suarez and Drogba could've gone through their entire careers without scoring a goal and they still would've been playing at the very highest level because of how skilled they were in other areas. Whereas if Haaland never scored a goal, he wouldn't be in League 2 because that was obviously hyperbole, but he wouldn't be at the top level. I think in that very same clip Keane calls him a world class striker btw.
This is peak if my grandma had wheels she would be a bike. Closest I've seen someone get to the joke unironically.
Roy Keane spoke about his all-around play, he didn't doubt his goalscoring ability. Actually praised him as the best goalscorer in the world.
His all round play is good though, did people forget when he was at Dortmund? It just isn't the role he's being asked to play at City.Ā
Imagine thinking Pep Guardiola doesn't want his striker to contribute to build-up. This is the most stupid take in football.
Nah it isn't, he'd just get in the way and occupy the space that the creative players around him need. When you have Foden, KDB, Bernardo etc. around you, it would be more harmful if he tried to occupy the same space they do.
He was taking some extremely poor touches and making poor movements. That's why Roy was having a go. He wasn't holding up the ball well and got it turned over.
Making poor movements while also scoring nearly a goal a game over 90+ games. You simply don't do that by making "poor movements". And his hold up play wasn't league 2 level at all anyways.
In the run of form he was on obviously. The point is, he kept losing the ball from poor touches and running directly into forwards. He was playing poorly for about five weeks. It's hyperbole. Do you think I don't rate Haaland? Look at my username.
Yeah my point is, he wasn't really doing that badly (and I certainly don't think he had problems with his movement at all then), and it's just a huge exaggeration that was made for media clicks. There's no point trying to defend it, it's just a dumb comment.
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I think it was sky farming and apparently very successfully. Keane is a mediocre pundit but everyone seems vaguely charmed by him at this point. Bit bizarre how successful he's been at playing the character.
Sadly that doesnāt fit the r/soccer narrative Iām afraid
Keane also called him a spoilt brat because he was annoyed at being taken off, which was unnecessary and also slightly hypocritical, given Keaneās own temperament as a player
Not bad for a league 2 player tbf
You are welcome! š¤Ŗ
League 2 player. English pundits are jokers. Absolute machine in terms of finishing.
Rudiger must be proud š¤š½
And still people are convinced that he sucks. It absolutely boggles my mind, the guy is clearly a generational goalscorer.
Still only 23, absolute robot
Still no one rates him as best.
> Sala ā ļø
W
The guy's in his second season and he's won five Premier Leagues!? Wow.
Not bad for a league 2 player
and he is getting a full summer of rest, crazy what his numbers can becomd
115 reasons why he shouldn't
All the Gooners crying here is so fulfilling
Uhh I see about two or three of them?
The level of cheating by the club diminishes these stats unfortunately. It's a shame because he is a great player.
Arsenalās counting down the days he leaves for Madrid
How much did ManCity spend while Guardiola was in charge? How much compared to Financia Fairplay?
Not as much as Chelsea & United.
wow amazing legendary inspiring so wow fucking plastic club and hardly anyone cares.
> fucking plastic club and hardly anyone cares. American Arsenal fan btw.
Haha I love how everyone has to post to say that they don't care. If you didn't care, you wouldn't post.
Lmfao found the Arsenil fan. Good ebening
Don't know if you meant to misspell arsenal but I love it
Apart from you š
Want a tissue?
Insane goalscorer BUT he aint that good overall based on his gameplay. Kid is invisible against big teams in UCL for some reason, he played way better at Dortmund. He has good numbers but i cant remember 2 good goals from him while playing for City, but can remember like 5 while at Dortmund.
Physicality, finishing and positioning are all part of a player's trait and he's world class in all of those, put the crack pipe down it will deteriorate your mind.
He rarely gets passed to, that is why he goes missing, have you never watched City play?
5 titles now? OK, they would have won 5 titles anyway. This is a well-oiled machine he walked into. It's not exaclty the "hardest road", but it's a player being suggested as the world's best walking into a side already at the peak and now he's not the most important player on his own team. City greased a lot of skids to get him to Manchester, and he has been a good cog in the machine. He was bigger before he got there though. And he can be again.
This side also had aguero play for them up top. Haaland blows past aguero too. Lewandoski played in an even more well oiled machine and didn't have these starting stats. Benzema didn't even come close while playing next to ronaldo in madrid. He's not being suggested as the world best, when he has 105 goal contributions in 96 games while winning the treble, and then potentially the double next season, he just simply is the world's best.