Erling Haaland is certainly not getting carried away following his superb brace in Manchester City’s opening Premier League game of the 2022/23 season.
Many people questioned whether the £51 million man would need time to adapt to Pep Guardiola’s system, and those whispers felt a little louder after he failed to get on the scoresheet in the Community Shield defeat to Liverpool last weekend.
But the Norwegian international was on top form in his first Premier League game for the club, winning and scoring a penalty, before adding a second after half-time.
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Both of Manchester City’s goals in the 0-2 victory - an impressive result away to West Ham at the London Stadium - were down to Erling Haaland’s quality.
The 22 year-old silenced the naysayers and went level with Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic and Brighton's Pascal Gross as the league’s top scorer at this very early stage, while Kevin De Bruyne secured the first of what could be a scary number of assists alongside his name.
Giving a characteristically unique interview after the match, the Premier League’s newest star striker declared, “It was good."
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Fortunately, Haaland went on to elaborate on his first away game in English football, calling it a “good start."
"There is nothing much to say other than that, and it was 2-0," he continued.
"Good to get some minutes in the legs early in the season and we have to keep going.
"As expected we saw the potential against Bayern (Munich) and it was a bit down against Liverpool.
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Haaland concluded, "It will come with games, it should have been more today."
The former Borussia Dortmund man himself was among those who might have added to the scoreline, missing a close-range header from a Jack Grealish cross moments after doubling Manchester City’s lead.
Meanwhile, Ilkay Gundogan - whose pass helped to win the first-half penalty - scuffed a great chance in the second half and several promising balls to Erling Haaland were cut out by the scrambling West Ham defence.
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Haaland and City now have a week to prepare for their first home game of the season, when they take on Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium next Saturday afternoon.
His understudy and exciting youngster Julian Álvarez came off the bench in the closing stages of this weekend's victory.
But after that match-winning performance from Erling Haaland, it looks like the Argentina international will have to wait a bit longer for his first Manchester City start.
Topics: Erling Haaland, Manchester City, West Ham United, Football, Premier League
Nathan Allen