The Erling Haaland Thread

[Bradleyjhansen]

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[mwheeler27]

Originally Posted by Gin&Juice

I don't think it is true that he is overshadowing everyone else in the sport. Marco Verratti just gave an interview talking about how Messi is still the best player in the world. Foden just had a hat trick of his own that people are talking about. Lothar Matthaus just came out to say he thinks Bellingham may end up being the best English player ever. Vinicius Jr just blew up the Twitter world with an outrageous display of skill.

Haaland is doing special stuff right now. He is not alone. There is so much young talent in the game, and in two months the entire world will be watching and talking about a whole bunch of guys not named Haaland.

I'm really glad he's not overshadowing everyone else in the sport. I want to see many players doing well with many different story lines. So six months later...

Who is everyone talking about today when they're not talking about Haaland?

[Gin&Juice]

Bellingham, Vinicius, Benzema, Saka, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia, Musiala, Wirtz, etc.

And, if you are asking about in December (which was two months after the original post), Messi, Enzo Fernandez, Julian Alvarez, Mbappe, Gvardiol, etc.

[mwheeler27]

Originally Posted by Gin&Juice

Bellingham, Vinicius, Benzema, Saka, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia, Musiala, Wirtz, etc.

And, if you are asking about in December (which was two months after the original post), Messi, Enzo Fernandez, Julian Alvarez, Mbappe, Gvardiol, etc.

Thank you.

[tcdyess]

Why don't I see Martinelli in this convo... come on man!!!!

[GrangerCollectr]

In the baseball forums.....there are threads that get 5-10 posts per day surrounding players at bats and card pickups (look at the Juan Soto thread). This thread went 5 months without a post and he's by far the most exciting player in all of soccer. So bizarre

[Gin&Juice]

I'm ok without all of the pumping. Agree it would be nice for forum to be more active, but not just so that people can hype their own investments.

If we want to talk soccer, I'd argue that Grealish has been a better player and more important to City over the past month or so. And, I don't especially like Grealish.

As for Martinelli, I am not sold. Too much dribble and indecision. He is a good young player, but I don't think he is on the same level (right now, at least) as the elite young wingers. To me, Trossard has been the better player since he came over.

[mwheeler27]

The strikers that hold, (or have held), the scoring records and titles...have they always been the most important players on their teams?

Just curious who gets remembered most by the vast majority of people. (Not necessarily fans, and obviously not the most die hard fans).

[mwheeler27]

Been grabbing some Grealish too:

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by mwheeler27

The strikers that hold, (or have held), the scoring records and titles...have they always been the most important players on their teams?

Just curious who gets remembered most by the vast majority of people. (Not necessarily fans, and obviously not the most die hard fans).

The people who truly get remembered are the ones who are the most important player on a dynastic club, or who lead their country to unexpected success.

If all that Haaland does is win titles with Man City, he's no more than another Lewandowski. Because on a team like Man City, he's expected to score 30+ goals a year. But if he leads Norway to the semis of the Euros or World Cup, then he's a GOAT.

Individual achievements are great, but it's team success that ultimately makes or breaks a player's reputation.

[FarmchairQB]

Originally Posted by mfw13

The people who truly get remembered are the ones who are the most important player on a dynastic club, or who lead their country to unexpected success.

If all that Haaland does is win titles with Man City, he's no more than another Lewandowski. Because on a team like Man City, he's expected to score 30+ goals a year. But if he leads Norway to the semis of the Euros or World Cup, then he's a GOAT.

Individual achievements are great, but it's team success that ultimately makes or breaks a player's reputation.

It's hard to say how Haaland's season will be remembered because he's doing stuff that's never been done. I know individual accomplishments get exaggerated and watered down around here due to the sheer amount of BS and pumping that happens on these forums. But this is without precedent. A funny looking 22 year old kid comes into the Prem and obliterates pretty much every goal scoring record that ever existed. That's the stuff you tell your grandkids.

It's simply not true that he was expected to score 30+ goals/year with this team. (I assume you meant PL goals, because if you meant all competitions his final tally will be almost double that.) 30+ goals is obviously the expectation now, but to give you a sense of what the market thought before the season began, one guy bet back in July that Haaland would score 40 goals this season at 350/1. He has already set the PL record for goals in a season with up to a dozen games left to play. To say this kind of output was expected is hindsight bias.

So while I agree that team performance also matters for your legacy, I'm pretty sure Haaland's season will be remembered for its pure absurdity even if MCI fails to win league title and CL and Haaland is not able to sniff the World Cup with Norway.

[mwheeler27]

Originally Posted by FarmchairQB

It's hard to say how Haaland's season will be remembered because he's doing stuff that's never been done. I know individual accomplishments get exaggerated and watered down around here due to the sheer amount of BS and pumping that happens on these forums. But this is without precedent. A funny looking 22 year old kid comes into the Prem and obliterates pretty much every goal scoring record that ever existed. That's the stuff you tell your grandkids.

It's simply not true that he was expected to score 30+ goals/year with this team. (I assume you meant PL goals, because if you meant all competitions his final tally will be almost double that.) 30+ goals is obviously the expectation now, but to give you a sense of what the market thought before the season began, one guy bet back in July that Haaland would score 40 goals this season at 350/1. He has already set the PL record for goals in a season with up to a dozen games left to play. To say this kind of output was expected is hindsight bias.

So while I agree that team performance also matters for your legacy, I'm pretty sure Haaland's season will be remembered for its pure absurdity even if MCI fails to win league title and CL and Haaland is not able to sniff the World Cup with Norway.

I feel pretty much the same way. Would love to see home country success too though, obviously.

I'm also wondering how people will feel about him if he wins titles where he's at, and moves from team to team to win in different places. (Not that he will ever win a single title, mind you).

Obviously the kid is special. If he wasn't, every team would have someone expected to score 30+ goals a season. Hopefully he can and will play for a very long time.

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by mfw13

The people who truly get remembered are the ones who are the most important player on a dynastic club, or who lead their country to unexpected success.

If all that Haaland does is win titles with Man City, he's no more than another Lewandowski. Because on a team like Man City, he's expected to score 30+ goals a year. But if he leads Norway to the semis of the Euros or World Cup, then he's a GOAT.

Individual achievements are great, but it's team success that ultimately makes or breaks a player's reputation.

I don't follow soccer much but I'm pretty sure I read (via research) that a lot of people expected Haaland to struggle in his transition to the PL.

[snomelcrob]

Originally Posted by eastbayak

I don't follow soccer much but I'm pretty sure I read (via research) that a lot of people expected Haaland to struggle in his transition to the PL.

This is absolutely what the narrative was coming into the season. The discussion was that the Bundesliga was inferior to the PL, especially defensively. Now that he's made things look so easy, the talking points can certainly shift to "this was expected." The fact of the matter is, he's always scored at an absolutely incredible clip.

Man City are a joy to watch offensively, and he's definitely the center point, but De Bruyne has been world class since the World Cup too.

[YayNJ]

De Bruyne has been world class for the last 8/9 years..

[snomelcrob]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

De Bruyne has been world class for the last 8/9 years..

Fair… I only mean that he seemed to have lost a step since the Euros.


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[mwheeler27]

Originally Posted by eastbayak

I don't follow soccer much but I'm pretty sure I read (via research) that a lot of people expected Haaland to struggle in his transition to the PL.

Yes, that's exactly what people said they expected.

And then when he saw success in PL game one, they said defenses would figure him out. Then when he didn't score for the first time, they said, "see, we told you so". Then when he started scoring again, I heard people say the PL isn't near what it used to be. I'm still trying to figure out if that's true, why is Haaland outscoring other entire teams by himself?

Now I'm trying again to hear what they're saying and gauge what they're thinking. What I keep hearing is that many other players are doing really well too. Except that Haaland seems to be the main player shattering records and inching ever closer to others that people said would never be touched.

I think people are holding their breath wondering if Haaland can sustain what he's doing.

[KhalDrogo]

Saying 30 goals was expected is some of the worst sports revisionist history I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t get talked about here because it’s now expected that he’s going to score 1+ goals and have a hat trick every week or two. Nothing he does surprises me at this point.

Hopefully this is the first of many UCL he wins. With the field expansion in 2026, he should be able to represent Norway in the WC. Any amount of success there would be fantastic. It’s akin to Luka and Slovenia.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

With the field expansion

mate

[mwheeler27]

Results from today...

Another game, another goal. 1-1 tie on the road.

Haaland did miss his first penalty kick in a long while though.

Read something about him besting Mbappe's "youngest to..." mark again today.

[pskell02]

At this point it makes sense to put money on him to score a goal or 2 a game. I had him to score the first goal today and paid out really well. I was cursing him on the penalty though Guy is a beast in the box.

[jjeanius]

33 and counting (plus two assists today).

[kellmuff]

crazy that people thought a guy that has utterly dominated every level he's ever played at would struggle at Guardiola's City

[kingb22]

Originally Posted by jjeanius

33 and counting (plus two assists today).

It wasn't just the goal and assists today - he and DeBruyne utterly dominated that game. And I say that as an Arsenal fan. Gabriel has been solid for most of the year (although everyone has struggled since Holding entered the lineup) and he was made to look bad. Haaland isn't the most technically gifted striker ever (yet) but his combination of power and speed is truly astounding. If he can learn to put away headers like a 6'4 #9 should, he may break Aguerro's city record in his first 4 years.

[Easycards]

All he does is score goals. It’s not real futbol!