Good taste…
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Commentator on TV said they didn’t come to pick up their loser’s medals even though they were available. 
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Sore losers.
Nice win for us. The depth from the bench is frightening. With five subs we are well equipped to pile on the goals from all angles. Hopefully we start the season fast and build up a lead before the World Cup.
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Haaland will score a ton of goals for City but it was interesting to see how he impacted on their style of play today. He is basically not involved in the build up play at all so last season’s approach of flooding midfield and suffocating the opposition isn’t really going to be feasible this time round. Maybe I am clutching at straws but I’m hoping his inclusion makes them that bit more predictable.
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If both we and Man City keep playing like today, the rest of the league won’t stand a chance of entering the title race. A lot will depend on the fitness of our players, though.
Some of Man City’s players genuinely frighten me with their quality - this time around, I think that Mahrez will have a monstrous season and that Foden and Silva will continue getting better in terms of numbers. Wouldn’t mind Barcelona selling De Jong to buy Silva…
As for Haaland, the moment that worried me was the one prior to his miss right at the end. The awareness and speed he showed after ninety minutes to get to the rebound in literally three or four steps… We’ll see if he has a negative impact on their build-up but I didn’t think Man City struggled in that department today.
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Think Haaland will struggle against sides who sit back and teams like us with VVD at the back. Will score 20ish goals a season which is still good and most of them will come off the likes of the top 6 imo. Watched him stand 10 yards offside to KDBs rightful shock who then got dispossessed by Joel. Seemed to be in his own world at times Erling. Looks like he belongs in his own world also
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If that highlights video above is accurate, which I think it is, then he had 6 touches against us. 6. Some of those were uncontrolled as well.
City are not used to ‘carrying’ a forward like that. I know he’s not going to face the quality of Matip, Konate and VVD each match week, but it’s still quite evident how much he’s changed the way they play.
Yes he’ll score a tonne. You have to expect their movement forward is probably going to be a bit stifled early doors until they are all used to this change.
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Heard from a few pundits, commentators and articles that Haaland will make City 'even more unpredictable‘
But playing with a false #9 like we’ve been doing or without a real striker like City have been doing and then bringing in a #9 - doesn’t that make a team more predictable actually?
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I guess maybe the unpredictability comes from the change, that there’s a slight difference in how to set up against them with a ‘backroom’ type of 9 rather than a false 9?
So not really about unpredictability, but rather unfamiliarity. If that’s a word.
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I think their biggest mistake is getting rid of the pace of their team. Grealish and Mahrez slow the game too much. Sterling and Jesus whilst not as technical added something unpredictable.
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I think you might be right on this… They did create a fair few chance but the pace was missing and Sterling often would give them that. It may well hurt th em the lack of matches, there was something missing.
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My expectations are that Haaland is that he will be a flat track bully. Score loads against inferior competition. But not be a differentiator against top teams.
Expect them to fail again in CL and have similar numbers for the league.
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He wasn’t standing offside, he just went WAY before KdB was ready to give the ball. That is the disconnect they need to resolve because all his success has come on teams who get the ball forward way quicker than City do. I think what you saw today was not a player who wont or doesnt get involved in the build up, but a player who was struggling to figure out how to with a team who don’t play to his strengths.
He can learn, and the city players can learn, but the hope (that sounds mean, but you get my drift) I’ve had ever since it looked like he was going there was that there was going to be a stylistic disconnect between him and the rest of the side. Good players can adapt, but at this level stylistic mismatches are a killer.
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Barney Ronay in The Guardian with a brilliant write up. Some cracking sentences to describe Haaland’s game. Well worth a read.
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Considering they expected to sign Kane last year you wonder why they don’t look more prepared.
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Think Kane would have suited them better being good linking up and less of a ball in behind striker. Haaland is used to Bundesliga high lines with acres of space in which Timo Werner looked great in. Kane proven in the premier league would have suited better. Perhaps a season too late, and not as fancy a name.
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I’m confident that Haaland will score bags of goals for them this season. He’s just starting, and they need to learn him and vice versa. The wrinkles won’t matter against most teams anyway, as they will steamroller them. But Haaland won’t face a better central defensive pairing than ours, and City won’t face a better team.
First blood to the mighty reds.
Augurs well for a cracking season.
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