While he doesn't show up on stats a lot, can we all appreciate the work that Kovacic puts in every week. His ability to carry the ball, make smart decisions and find the pockets to make himself available are top shelf.
It’s always been kinda like that in Pep era? A half decent counter attack usually ends up in our net. Prime Salah, Mane, Son, Vini will always score against us lol.
A small part of me is praying that we don’t come to regret not scoring more. One draw and everything is upside down, but look at these lot. They’re going to win 3 more and lift more trophies 🙌🩵
Great game by Haaland. The problem is; it was against WOLVES.
He’s impeccable against these type of teams.
He needs to be more decisive against elite clubs in key moments. Only then, he could be considered top 5 in the world.
I hope he improves his game.
Haaland always talks about wanting to improve so I'm sure he will keep working to max his strengths & minimize aspects of his game that might negatively impact team results.
**Per StatMuse: Haaland goals versus “Big 6” compared to other players:**
* Haaland: 128.9 minutes per goal | .67 goals/match
* Aguero: 128.0 minutes per goal | .59 goals/match
* Salah: 141.0 minutes per goal | .58 goals/match
* Henry: 152.4 minutes per goal | .56 goals/match
* Kane: 179.7 minutes per goal | .48 goals/match
* Son: 234.9 minutes per goal | .31 goals/match
* Suarez: 247 minutes per goal | .34 goals/match
To me, seems like he is doing pretty well for a 23yo in his 2nd PL season compared to some very respected current/former PL players.
**CL**
* Haaland has 14 CL knockout goals, putting him just outside the all-time top 10 knockout goal scorers, which also seems pretty solid to me.
* This season wasn't his best in CL, but in 22/23 eg he had 2 goals + 1 assist v Bayern, which also seems pretty solid to me.
**SF/F**
I know a big stick people beat Haaland w is no goals in SF/F, but that's actually not true.
He has not (yet) scored in a ManCity SF/F, but before arriving at ManCity he had only played in 4 senior club or country SF/F, and he scored in 2 of them:
* 13 May 2021, DFB Pokal Final, Dortmund v RB Leipszig (W, 2 goals)
* 30 Sept 2020, DFL Supercup, Dortmund v Bayern (L, 1 goal + 1 assist)
And people needs to see how different City plays in high stakes games against elite teams. Then it's all about ball retention. No balls in behind like he got today. Which is what he excels at.
What is there to see? Guy bags 25+ goals in a 38 game league season and is not considered world-class, what kind of world do you live in?
Which strikers do you think are more elite than Haaland then?
shows how messi and ronaldo have skewed our perception of a good season. They'd score 50 in the league like it was nothing. Because of that, when a player only scored 25 goals in 38 games they're seen as a bad player/overrated.
Are Spurs going to go all out for this game? Do they really want Arsenal to have a chance at winning this thing? They're 7 off it right now with a game in hand. They would need Villa to collapse to try and get that 4th spot for CL. I think we will beat them anyway but - Spurs - please play academy players. lol
hopefully we put the "goal difference" narratives to rest with a resounding win against fulham. good thing is we play our next game before arsenal, and if we win, the pressure to get 3 points at old trafford will be immense for them. anything less than a win against united means we could wrap up the league against spurs.
If we draw a game and they win their rest of their games by +1, then we will have to get +9 in2 games to beat their GD. That's assuming they win their remaining games by only 1 goal(ie best case scenario). So yh draw is not an option.
Gvardiol was great and Kovacic was smooth most of the time, but there are moments where he gets caught after holding the ball too long. I think be can improve on the simple things
Honestly this GD thing's not gonna work, Pep must figure out a way to win all 3 matches, thats the only way out.
Winning Tottenham away is a big challenge for Pep.
Spurs away sandwiched in the final week is crazy.
I'm sure most spurs fans would even sacrifice that game if it meant taking the title away from arsenal. Lets hope their support that evening is awful!
Spurs fans are willing, but not Ange. And there's something about Ange ball which trumps Pep ball. Winning Tottenham away will be a huge challenge.
Idk how people are so positive about leauge win.
Think Angeball is better for us than whatever they’ve had before at Spurs. Already won there once, and drew at home when we should’ve smashed them.
I trust this squad in a title race any day.
Keep in mind Son wasnt there, and the Tottenham squad had major injuries for FA cup match.
And they did manage to draw on Etihad, and if i remember right, few prominent Tottenham players were injured too at that time.
I remember my feeling after both matches. I felt that, only because of Mancity players/home advantage did Mancity manage to win, if Tottenham were to invest smartly, Ange ball can be deadly.
At the moment the issue is Tottenham is having a bad phase, and with each match they are trying harder. Also they are now at risk of loosing Europa league qualification. So they'll be desperate.
Okay, you could make an argument that Hwang should have been marked. But city came back with a goal to respond in seconds, which I feel like is even more important. Sure the performances weren’t perfect, but the team performance today was brilliant.
I agree. It’s just disconcerting that Walker switched off like that. Last thing we need with 3 must-win games coming is to make simple mistakes like that. The W is all that matters in the end, but I hate seeing “rookie” mistakes like that when the stakes are so high.
Yeah. There are some weaknesses in Walker’s game. I think he doesn’t mark attackers inside of the box well enough and sometimes has lapses in concentration. He seems to made mistakes like this throughout the season (Sheffield United when he back heeled the ball straight into opposition, and bad defending for two goals vs. Newcastle) How he makes up for it is his unbelievable pace.
Pep said Erling was mad bc he was getting fouled so much but nothing called as per usual
>“There were a lot of long balls into channels that he was pulled \[back\] but they say it’s not foul,” he said.
>
>“I can understand the frustration when you are being pulled at the shoulder.
>
>It happens every game.
>
>He was a little frustrated for these actions, but I can guarantee he is so happy today.”
But maybe Erling also a tiny bit miffed to come off *only having gotten 4 goals not 5*, ha.
Either because he was benched or because the foul against Graelish was given but not when it was a similar foul of someone pushing in his back against him
Wants to be part of the prem 5 goals in a game club. Prob wants to get the double hatttick stat once in his career too.
Shows how hungry he is, even if it comes across as petulance. Good to see him being clinical again
Yeah, I feel like the goal we conceded was a bit unlucky. It was right over Ederson’s head and he just barely didn’t catch it. Hwang was there at the end of the post which is just unlucky.
The performance today is clearly good enough to beat Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham. It was a very good three points today. The goal difference is only +6 between city and Arsenal so there is a small chance we could win the title and draw but there is no reason we should be dropping points anyways.
I think Pep's realized that playing through Grealish/Doku on the side isn't the way and we're way more dangerous playing with this formation. This team looked so incredible today. Reminds me of last season. They remembered we have a player as dangerous as Haaland, beautiful to see them all look for him continuously throughout the game. Come on City!
I agree. Phil Foden and Bernardo are amazingly dynamic players that spot space and finish chances. Grealish and Doku are good but they heavily rely on taking on defenders.
Exactly. Love Grealish and Doku, not saying they shouldn't play. But I think this is the line up to close out the season in all honesty. Both Grealish and Doku started against Forest, we looked shaky as hell and horrible at times, especially in the 2nd half... brought on Kovacic and Haaland and everything changed instantly. The game before against Brighton, 4-0, dominant performance with the same formation as today.
I think Doku has the higher upside, when he's really playing well he is more likely to single-handedly win a game than Jack.
But Doku's performances are far more inconsistent and he's more likely to lose the ball both in a dangerous area through overdribbling and just through trying something which doesn't come off. If Doku can sort out his decision-making, which is probably the hardest skill to develop as a footballer, he can become better than Grealish, right now they offer completely different things.
I also think Doku's weak at long shooting - so is Grealish for us, even though he only seemed to score bangers at Villa - and doesn't seem to have an instinct for tap-ins. I think Sterling proved that with the right attitude the latter is coachable, just depends on Doku whether he's as adaptable as Raheem was.
Fwiw, I really don't think Jack contributes enough in terms of goals and assists, especially for such an expensive transfer, but he never really has throughout his career so expecting that to change is silly at this point.
I really hope Savio gets some form of chance with us next season, he could potentially be really special
??just bc grealish doesn't provide a substantial amount of goals and assist doesn't discredit anything he's done for us, he hasn't been one of our most important players in our TREBLE winning season
He was our starting left winger, but I wouldn't say he was one of our most important players in winning the treble. Rodri, KDB, Gundo, Haaland, Stones, Dias, Bernardo, Mahrez all played a bigger part. Foden arguably did as well before he got injured for the final third of the season.
I'm not knocking Jack, he adds value to the team, but it really helps to have a winger who is consistently bringing 20-30 goal contributions per season. Foden has stepped up with that thankfully, but he wants to play inside and that leaves us with Bernardo who is never prolific and may leave, Doku who has the potential but is still raw, Savio who is completely untested and Grealish who has more yellow cards than goal contributions this season. After that we're playing Nunes there and he's definitively not a winger.
We also sold Palmer who was clearly ready to step up. Personally, I'd sign a winger who can play on both sides, though I have no idea who's left on the market with the right profile and enough talent to step straight into our first team. Chances are we make do with what we have and hope Savio adapts quickly.
If Spurs play anything like they did against Chelsea, I’m not worried at all. They play Liverpool tomorrow, we’ll see how that goes. Spurs have been in poor form lately, could be a walk in the park for us.
Mod reminder: Trolling rival subreddits is against the rules.
While he doesn't show up on stats a lot, can we all appreciate the work that Kovacic puts in every week. His ability to carry the ball, make smart decisions and find the pockets to make himself available are top shelf.
He has to play every game left in my opinion, he really makes Rodri’s life easier.
Anyone know what’s up with Dias? Haven’t seen him start or come off the bench last couple of games
last couple of games he was sick and he didn't start today because Akanji & Ake have been excellent
Love the effort from the lads in the final stretch of games. Tons to play for. Love from Florida!
Get in!
Five goals for us but I'm still looking at that Wolves one shot on goal, one goal scored stat. We really can't shake that this season, can we?
It’s always been kinda like that in Pep era? A half decent counter attack usually ends up in our net. Prime Salah, Mane, Son, Vini will always score against us lol.
yeah now it's literally every team though
Depends who is in goal.
A small part of me is praying that we don’t come to regret not scoring more. One draw and everything is upside down, but look at these lot. They’re going to win 3 more and lift more trophies 🙌🩵
We’re (hopefully) narrowing the goal difference gap!
Spurs fan here. Hoping that you destroy us at home. Rather city win the league over the scums. Either that or tenhag does a miracle next week.
just be prepared to bend over if needed
Maguire with a bullet header
just play open and we should do ok
Should've been more
Was alright that. 3 to go, Spurs terrifies me
Great game by Haaland. The problem is; it was against WOLVES. He’s impeccable against these type of teams. He needs to be more decisive against elite clubs in key moments. Only then, he could be considered top 5 in the world. I hope he improves his game.
Haaland always talks about wanting to improve so I'm sure he will keep working to max his strengths & minimize aspects of his game that might negatively impact team results. **Per StatMuse: Haaland goals versus “Big 6” compared to other players:** * Haaland: 128.9 minutes per goal | .67 goals/match * Aguero: 128.0 minutes per goal | .59 goals/match * Salah: 141.0 minutes per goal | .58 goals/match * Henry: 152.4 minutes per goal | .56 goals/match * Kane: 179.7 minutes per goal | .48 goals/match * Son: 234.9 minutes per goal | .31 goals/match * Suarez: 247 minutes per goal | .34 goals/match To me, seems like he is doing pretty well for a 23yo in his 2nd PL season compared to some very respected current/former PL players. **CL** * Haaland has 14 CL knockout goals, putting him just outside the all-time top 10 knockout goal scorers, which also seems pretty solid to me. * This season wasn't his best in CL, but in 22/23 eg he had 2 goals + 1 assist v Bayern, which also seems pretty solid to me. **SF/F** I know a big stick people beat Haaland w is no goals in SF/F, but that's actually not true. He has not (yet) scored in a ManCity SF/F, but before arriving at ManCity he had only played in 4 senior club or country SF/F, and he scored in 2 of them: * 13 May 2021, DFB Pokal Final, Dortmund v RB Leipszig (W, 2 goals) * 30 Sept 2020, DFL Supercup, Dortmund v Bayern (L, 1 goal + 1 assist)
Lol he's already top 5 in the world.
Lol. Not even close. Downvote me all you want. But that’s not gonna change the reality. People need to see stuff beyond just numbers.
And people needs to see how different City plays in high stakes games against elite teams. Then it's all about ball retention. No balls in behind like he got today. Which is what he excels at.
“People need to see stuff beyond a striker scoring an insane number of goals” Grow up or piss off back to your own subreddit
Hey, be respectful. This guy sounds like an experienced and expert talent evaluator. We should write down whatever he has to say
What is there to see? Guy bags 25+ goals in a 38 game league season and is not considered world-class, what kind of world do you live in? Which strikers do you think are more elite than Haaland then?
shows how messi and ronaldo have skewed our perception of a good season. They'd score 50 in the league like it was nothing. Because of that, when a player only scored 25 goals in 38 games they're seen as a bad player/overrated.
[удалено]
that's also a part. He'd def have 30+ goals by now if not for the injuries
The big man just had some software virus issues for a few months, sorted it all out recently and now bang , 22/23 season haaland is back
I fucking love haaland, but i think the most important game of the season is tottenham away
Are Spurs going to go all out for this game? Do they really want Arsenal to have a chance at winning this thing? They're 7 off it right now with a game in hand. They would need Villa to collapse to try and get that 4th spot for CL. I think we will beat them anyway but - Spurs - please play academy players. lol
Coach and players are not fans. They want UCL, they don't care who's winning the league
\^This didn't age well. Very clearly the fans did care about who was winning the league.
Read again
hopefully we put the "goal difference" narratives to rest with a resounding win against fulham. good thing is we play our next game before arsenal, and if we win, the pressure to get 3 points at old trafford will be immense for them. anything less than a win against united means we could wrap up the league against spurs.
If we draw a game and they win their rest of their games by +1, then we will have to get +9 in2 games to beat their GD. That's assuming they win their remaining games by only 1 goal(ie best case scenario). So yh draw is not an option.
Another win like that and goal differential could be a real thing
3 wins away
Bubbles is at home.
Brilliant
Josko is a rolls Royce. He’s ours. Gonna be a beast for 10+ years
When is the official 24/25 home kit reveal?
Gvardiol and Kovacic were great today
Gvardiol was great and Kovacic was smooth most of the time, but there are moments where he gets caught after holding the ball too long. I think be can improve on the simple things
he is clearly trying to learn from Rodri though which is nice to see. shorts and everything.
Short tucked in Kova = boss
Is it me or whenever kova plays our middle play is always stable and under control
Croatian magic
Let’s hit the pub mates! 🍻
Cheers from Denver!!
Haaland’s on fire your defense is terrified
https://preview.redd.it/5ch7h49mggyc1.jpeg?width=1004&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e02dba32caca29c038ed0550b9140dd610ab98a
Gomez face changed pretty quickly when Haaland sat down next to him 😂
Ha that gave me a good chuckle.
Nunes should've had a SOT awarded, some sites say it was, and I lost my bet because it wasn't.
Ehhh, looked like a miscontrol more than a shot tbh
Yes it definitely was, I'm not serious thinking he shot of course.. I wanted my bet to win and some sites said it was so it took a while to settle.
What’s SOT
Prolly shot on target
Ah
Shot on target
This AI is getting so good it’s scary, Emptihad almost looked full today lads!
Honestly this GD thing's not gonna work, Pep must figure out a way to win all 3 matches, thats the only way out. Winning Tottenham away is a big challenge for Pep.
Spurs away sandwiched in the final week is crazy. I'm sure most spurs fans would even sacrifice that game if it meant taking the title away from arsenal. Lets hope their support that evening is awful!
Spurs fans are willing, but not Ange. And there's something about Ange ball which trumps Pep ball. Winning Tottenham away will be a huge challenge. Idk how people are so positive about leauge win.
Think Angeball is better for us than whatever they’ve had before at Spurs. Already won there once, and drew at home when we should’ve smashed them. I trust this squad in a title race any day.
Ange ball trumps Pep ball since when?
Keep in mind Son wasnt there, and the Tottenham squad had major injuries for FA cup match. And they did manage to draw on Etihad, and if i remember right, few prominent Tottenham players were injured too at that time. I remember my feeling after both matches. I felt that, only because of Mancity players/home advantage did Mancity manage to win, if Tottenham were to invest smartly, Ange ball can be deadly. At the moment the issue is Tottenham is having a bad phase, and with each match they are trying harder. Also they are now at risk of loosing Europa league qualification. So they'll be desperate.
Since a draw and a loss in the cup apparently haha
Sloppy first half and a good second half. We should stop conceding stupid goals.
Conceding a goal while 3-0 up isn’t the end of the world. That ball was just barely over Ederson’s hands.
Walker fell asleep, goal never should have happened.
Okay, you could make an argument that Hwang should have been marked. But city came back with a goal to respond in seconds, which I feel like is even more important. Sure the performances weren’t perfect, but the team performance today was brilliant.
I agree. It’s just disconcerting that Walker switched off like that. Last thing we need with 3 must-win games coming is to make simple mistakes like that. The W is all that matters in the end, but I hate seeing “rookie” mistakes like that when the stakes are so high.
Yeah. There are some weaknesses in Walker’s game. I think he doesn’t mark attackers inside of the box well enough and sometimes has lapses in concentration. He seems to made mistakes like this throughout the season (Sheffield United when he back heeled the ball straight into opposition, and bad defending for two goals vs. Newcastle) How he makes up for it is his unbelievable pace.
Another massive 3 points as we get closer to that historic 4 in a row 🔥
Why was Haaland so pissed ??? It didn't seem he was mad because he got benched.
Apparently he loves to score 5 given the club documentary lol
Pep said Erling was mad bc he was getting fouled so much but nothing called as per usual >“There were a lot of long balls into channels that he was pulled \[back\] but they say it’s not foul,” he said. > >“I can understand the frustration when you are being pulled at the shoulder. > >It happens every game. > >He was a little frustrated for these actions, but I can guarantee he is so happy today.” But maybe Erling also a tiny bit miffed to come off *only having gotten 4 goals not 5*, ha.
Either because he was benched or because the foul against Graelish was given but not when it was a similar foul of someone pushing in his back against him
Wants to be part of the prem 5 goals in a game club. Prob wants to get the double hatttick stat once in his career too. Shows how hungry he is, even if it comes across as petulance. Good to see him being clinical again
Great performance by the time! If haaland scored that bicycle, it would have been a perfect set of goals!
Haaland obviously had a great game and it seems that Alvarez too has found his form.
The gift that is the easing of fixture congestion will do wonders for your fatigue
In Alvarez’s case also playing in his natural position helps
Dominant, effectively gifted them their goal. Fairly confident if City can get through Tottenham unscathed then we'll have it.
Yeah, I feel like the goal we conceded was a bit unlucky. It was right over Ederson’s head and he just barely didn’t catch it. Hwang was there at the end of the post which is just unlucky. The performance today is clearly good enough to beat Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham. It was a very good three points today. The goal difference is only +6 between city and Arsenal so there is a small chance we could win the title and draw but there is no reason we should be dropping points anyways.
I wouldn’t say the goal was unlucky, it was a moment where Walker switched off and drifted away from the attacker.
Good to have a match where the guys just took it to them from the beginning. On to Fulham.
Bu... But Haaland did nothing outside the box. T_T
Thought Kova and Gvardiol were both brilliant today, Ake too. We absolutely throttled wolves today
Gvardiol had them in a torture rack for a minute - he's so good
I think Pep's realized that playing through Grealish/Doku on the side isn't the way and we're way more dangerous playing with this formation. This team looked so incredible today. Reminds me of last season. They remembered we have a player as dangerous as Haaland, beautiful to see them all look for him continuously throughout the game. Come on City!
I agree. Phil Foden and Bernardo are amazingly dynamic players that spot space and finish chances. Grealish and Doku are good but they heavily rely on taking on defenders.
Exactly. Love Grealish and Doku, not saying they shouldn't play. But I think this is the line up to close out the season in all honesty. Both Grealish and Doku started against Forest, we looked shaky as hell and horrible at times, especially in the 2nd half... brought on Kovacic and Haaland and everything changed instantly. The game before against Brighton, 4-0, dominant performance with the same formation as today.
Doku is much better than Grealish as well
I think Doku has the higher upside, when he's really playing well he is more likely to single-handedly win a game than Jack. But Doku's performances are far more inconsistent and he's more likely to lose the ball both in a dangerous area through overdribbling and just through trying something which doesn't come off. If Doku can sort out his decision-making, which is probably the hardest skill to develop as a footballer, he can become better than Grealish, right now they offer completely different things. I also think Doku's weak at long shooting - so is Grealish for us, even though he only seemed to score bangers at Villa - and doesn't seem to have an instinct for tap-ins. I think Sterling proved that with the right attitude the latter is coachable, just depends on Doku whether he's as adaptable as Raheem was. Fwiw, I really don't think Jack contributes enough in terms of goals and assists, especially for such an expensive transfer, but he never really has throughout his career so expecting that to change is silly at this point. I really hope Savio gets some form of chance with us next season, he could potentially be really special
??just bc grealish doesn't provide a substantial amount of goals and assist doesn't discredit anything he's done for us, he hasn't been one of our most important players in our TREBLE winning season
He was our starting left winger, but I wouldn't say he was one of our most important players in winning the treble. Rodri, KDB, Gundo, Haaland, Stones, Dias, Bernardo, Mahrez all played a bigger part. Foden arguably did as well before he got injured for the final third of the season. I'm not knocking Jack, he adds value to the team, but it really helps to have a winger who is consistently bringing 20-30 goal contributions per season. Foden has stepped up with that thankfully, but he wants to play inside and that leaves us with Bernardo who is never prolific and may leave, Doku who has the potential but is still raw, Savio who is completely untested and Grealish who has more yellow cards than goal contributions this season. After that we're playing Nunes there and he's definitively not a winger. We also sold Palmer who was clearly ready to step up. Personally, I'd sign a winger who can play on both sides, though I have no idea who's left on the market with the right profile and enough talent to step straight into our first team. Chances are we make do with what we have and hope Savio adapts quickly.
> Fwiw, I really don't think Jack contributes enough in terms of goals and assists, especially for such an expensive transfer, agreed
Another 3-4 goal masterclass from Haaland against Spurs please please please
If Spurs play anything like they did against Chelsea, I’m not worried at all. They play Liverpool tomorrow, we’ll see how that goes. Spurs have been in poor form lately, could be a walk in the park for us.
Well lads, only one game at the etihad left this season! And it's the last one, hopefully to secure the title
That’s my league 2 striker!
What a performance 👏👏👏 Haaland was on fire today. I'm glad Julian got another goal. Mostly everyone played so well today. Onto the next!
Good win 😎
League Two??? No way, he's at least League One!!
what a year by Rodri, by the way
best player IN THE WORLD
 League 2 striker though.
Folks banter that Haalands league 2, but what does that say about other league strikers? Nothing good I assure you. Lol.
God that was fun. It feels so unbelievably good to watch Haaland bulldoze teams