Erling Haaland has stormed to 50 goals in the Premier League in just 48 games, smashing the record previously held by Manchester United legend Andy Cole.
Haaland’s rise to stardom in England has materialized so quickly that some fans consider his ridiculous output the norm where anything less raises the eyebrows of critics – a vacuum into which consistent players like Mohamed Salah find themselves.
Many components make Haaland a complete player – speed, agility, physicality, shot power, and more. However, the hallmark that establishes him as an elite striker is cleverness. It does not only refer to Haaland’s efficiency in picking the right finish but also the ability to regularly get into threatening positions before collecting the killer pass.
Traditional strikers position themselves between opposition center-back pairings to pin them back, creating space between the defensive and midfield lines that invite creative midfielders to occupy and find piercing passes.
The screenshot below is a suitable example from the Manchester City draw against Liverpool in November.
After City bypassed the Liverpool press, Julian Alvarez found space between the lines since Erling Haaland and the winger’s positions had pinned the back line deep, from which City produced a dangerous chance.
From similar positions, strikers must execute timely runs behind the defensive line, which may sound like an easy task in theory but is extremely difficult to convert on the pitch.
Since strikers are often the highest-situated player on the offensive line, playing off the shoulder of the last defender, it is natural to either sway offside or fail to gain enough momentum to race ahead and beat the defender to the ball.
To mitigate this, center forwards work on several movements that either mislead defenders to create space or help them gather enough steam to accelerate behind the opposition’s defensive line.
Haaland has several such movements in his arsenal, like out-to-in and in-to-out runs, but his strength arguably lies in his blindside movement.
A blindside run is a motion where a player attempts a run behind a defender who does not see it because he is focusing on the ball. To execute such a run, an attacker positions himself on the shoulder of the defender so that the opponent cannot see both him and the ball simultaneously.
Haaland scored a goal by deploying this run in his first Premier League game last season against West Ham United after charging through their center-back pair while getting on the blindside of Kurt Zouma.
Erling Haaland is astute at creating room by baiting defenders or identifying space before the opposition reads the situation.
Going back to last season’s Manchester Derby, for Haaland’s hattrick goal, the Norwegian jukes Lisandro Martinez with a horizontal run to create space vertically to drop into and convert the cross from Sergio Gomez.