Erling Haaland: How does the Manchester City striker do it? | OneFootball

Erling Haaland has had yet another stellar start to a Premier League season, making it 15 goals and two assists in Manchester City colours in just 12 games so far.

Alongside his unbelievable start to his latest season in English football, Haaland has scored a further nine goals and assisted twice in three fixtures for Norway. This freakish behaviour is starting to become normal for the 25-year-old, but how does he really do it?

Since the departure of main provider and assist king Kevin De Bruyne at the end of last season, Erling Haaland has had to adapt his play somewhat, but in particular in a positional sense.

The centre-forward has become a lot more box-oriented this campaign, with 60 of his 206 touches (3.43 per game) coming inside of the opponent’s penalty area, as well as taking 36 of his 37 Premier League shots in total (97%) within the 18-yard box.

Compared to last season, where Haaland had 98 out of 108 shots (91%) inside the opposition’s box, this change in style has been crucial to his conversion rate in front of goal, which has increased by nearly 10% this campaign.

As Haaland’s heat map shows, the former Borussia Dortmund man is more dominant on the right-hand side of the penalty area, as he begins to peal towards the back-post in an attempt to connect to a cross from wide-men. The Norwegian has also scored nine of his 11 goals with his left-foot, outperforming his expected goals of 8.92.

Alluding back to the departure of Kevin De Bruyne following the expiry of the Belgian’s contract, Erling Haaland’s movement has also been a lot more fluid, moving away from the notion of breaking defensive lines with runs in-behind, and more towards arriving in the box at the right time.

A clear example was the forward’s second goal against Wolves on the opening weekend of the Premier League campaign, where the Norwegian did not arrive into the penalty area until late in the move, and not breaking the defensive line with a forward run.

This change in style for Erling Haaland sees him more as a ‘box crasher’ and a ‘poacher’ – seen by his first goal against Wolves – rather than a breaker of defensive lines and a runner in-behind.

Whilst these aspects are still critical parts of Erling Haaland’s game, particularly against opponents who are insistent on pressing City high up the field, they may not be as significant in the ongoing season.

Haaland’s physical profile continues to be a significant part of his playing style, and will prove to be utilised even more this campaign, with the intensity and physicality of the Premier League continuing to increase.

With the pace of Savinho, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Ait-Nouri out-wide in particular, Manchester City’s counter-attacking potential is frightening, and Erling Haaland will be the focal point of this change.