Simply as Lionel Messi dominated European soccer for years along with his targets and information, Erling Haaland is now doing the identical within the Premier League. Manchester Metropolis head coach Pep Guardiola spoke concerning the Norwegian striker’s impression and the way his workforce has tailored to him.
Throughout the press convention forward of the UEFA Champions League conflict towards Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, Guardiola was requested how he managed to construct a system round Haaland that works so effectively. Pep admitted that it hasn’t been a problem in any respect.
“I performed with false-9 with (Lionel) Messi. I performed with false-9 with (Robert) Lewandowski, I performed that method with Sergio Aguero and right here with Phil Foden,”the coach recalled, reflecting on previous experiences in his profession. “Now with Erling we can not play that method as a result of he’s too good.”
Certainly, Haaland’s distinctive qualities make main tactical changes pointless. He’s a traditional middle ahead — tall, robust, with glorious positioning instincts and ending capability. On high of that, he brings an uncommon stage of technical talent for a participant of his dimension.
Manchester Metropolis head coach Pep Guardiola.
“I all the time attempt to set up the workforce to permit him to run as little as attainable,” Guardiola later admitted. “He’s so huge and can’t play 90 minutes each three days and make the large actions. I don’t need that… However when that’s not attainable, he has to assist us and he’s serving to us.”
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Guardiola praises Haaland
In the identical press convention, Pep made it clear that he’s extraordinarily glad with what Haaland has delivered to Manchester Metropolis. “It’s troublesome to discover a actual, actual world-class participant that’s extremely humble and thinks what’s the finest for the workforce,” mentioned the Spanish coach.
“Usually a striker simply thinks of targets, targets, targets. In fact he has to attain targets, that’s clearly clear,” Guardiola acknowledged earlier than declaring how Manchester Metropolis’s long-term planning has allowed Haaland to take a broader view of his goals: “He signed a contract for 10 years and the extra he’s concerned in lots of issues will probably be higher for him and the membership.”
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Guardiola’s middle forwards
All through his teaching profession, Guardiola has made unconventional choices along with his strikers. Early in his tenure at Barcelona, he had Samuel Eto’o, a prolific ahead who was in glorious type. Nonetheless, only a few months into the 2008–09 season, the coach determined to make use of Lionel Messi in that place, giving beginning to the “false 9” system that grew to become considered one of his most profitable tactical improvements.
Within the following years, different forwards at Barcelona needed to adapt to Pep’s plan. Some did so efficiently, like David Villa, whereas others — comparable to Zlatan Ibrahimovic — lasted solely a short while on the membership.
In his later experiences, Guardiola sometimes stored that very same concept. At Bayern Munich, he initially labored with Mario Mandzukic and Claudio Pizarro, till Robert Lewandowski arrived in 2014. And when he took over at Manchester Metropolis, the coach inherited Sergio Aguero, the workforce’s undisputed star on the time, however regularly lowered his function till Aguero’s departure in 2021. The arrival of Haaland, in fact, modified all the things — and since then, there’s been no debate about who owns that place.
