After a singular off-day against Liverpool in the Community Shield, plenty of fans and pundits alike came together to deem Erling Haaland as a potential flop in a Manchester City shirt.
Many had claimed that the former RB Salzburg talisman would struggle to adapt to Pep Guardiola’s style of play and much like several imports from Germany in recent years, he would have a tough time settling to Premier League football.
Since then, the Norwegian international has made a mockery of all his detractors by tearing defences apart during his early days in Sky Blue.
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Just six games into the new season, the former Borussia Dortmund marksman is already on a ridiculous ten goals.
Scoring successive hat-tricks against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, Erling Haaland became the fastest player in the division’s history to score a treble of goals twice.
On his Champions League debut for Manchester City against Sevilla, the son of former Sky Blues midfielder, Alfie Haaland became the first player to score a brace in his first appearance for the club.
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With Erling Haaland’s frightening start to life at the Etihad Stadium, one of the game’s greatest ever strikers in Filippo Inzaghi sang the Manchester City number nine’s praises.
“The desire with which he attacks the goal, and if he scores, he attacks even more to score again," he said in an interview with Italian newspaper Gazzetto dello Sport, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness.
The former AC Milan frontman continued, “I also really like his ability to lose his marker.
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"It’s no coincidence that he has scored so many goals in the six-yard box with Manchester City during the start of the season.
"We would be wrong to call those goals easy: maybe the final executions are simple, but behind there is a great job in training. Of course, there’s also Guardiola’s ability to enhance the characteristics of his players."
Inzaghi also explained why stopping the youngster is such a challenge for most defences.
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“Haaland is difficult to mark because if you are on him, he moves you with his body and while you try to get back into position, he’s already gone.
"And if you’re not on him, you risk only finding him when he’s celebrating.
"He’s very attentive to how the move unfolds, he knows he’s the focal point and focuses on that aspect with great application.”
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The fact that legendary goal-scorers such as Filippo Inzaghi are waxing lyrical about Erling Haaland is testament to how incredible has been at Manchester City so far.
Topics: Erling Haaland, Manchester City, Premier League, Inter Milan, Football
Srinivas Sadhanand