It seems that failure in the 2023 Golden Ball race as well as last season’s resounding success are making things difficult for Erling Haaland. Last season, the Norwegian star scored 52 goals in 53 matches for Man City. But in the 2023/24 season, this “goal-scoring machine” has completely reduced its effectiveness.
Until now, Haaland is still the number 1 striker of Man City and the English Premier League. However, the level of explosion is definitely lower than last season. In the Premier League top scorer race, Haaland was caught by Salah with the same 14 goals, closely followed by Solanke (13 goals) and Son Heung Min (12 goals). As for the European Golden Shoe race, Haaland is far behind Kane (24 goals) and Mbappe (20 goals), while last season he won with almost no opponents.
The match against Brentford was the first time Haaland started again after a long break to treat his injury. This star has had a series of 10 matches without playing with Man City, since being injured in the 0-1 loss to Aston Villa on December 6 last year. It was not until January 31 that the player holding the title “Best Striker of 2023” played again, appearing on the field for 19 minutes against Burnley but not scoring.
Against Brentford, Haaland played 86 minutes, leaving his mark with a “set-up” pass for Phil Foden to set the score 3-0 at minute 70. In addition, Haaland himself had 3 shots with only 1 on target. but was saved by home team goalkeeper Flekken.
So, the last time Man City’s number 9 scored was on November 28 last year, when he scored against Leipzig. In the Premier League, Haaland’s goal was against Liverpool, in round 13 of the tournament. To date, the tournament has gone through round 23.
This parameter is clearly worrying for Man City, because this is the sprint of the 2023/24 season and “Green Man” needs the goal-scoring talent of its number 1 striker. But fans must also acknowledge coach Pep Guardiola’s excellent ability to cope with the situation.
In the 10 matches Haaland was absent, Man City won 9 and drew only 1 match. Looking more broadly, in 14 matches Haaland did not play or score, his team still won 11 matches, drew 2 and lost exactly 1 match.
During the time Erling Haaland was injured or unable to play, the duo Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden did a good job as a replacement. Since then, Alvarez has scored 8 goals and 3 assists, while the above figures for Foden are 9 goals and 5 assists.