The situation
After the 3-1 defeat against Liverpool in the Community Shield , and despite Erling Haaland ‘s gray game , who did not score, Pep Guardiola wanted to temper things. “It’s good for [Haaland] to see reality in a new country. He has incredible quality and he will do it. When he scored in America, everyone was talking about how impressive he was. He is strong. He’s had his chances…but another time he’ll put the ball in the net. It’s football,” stressed the Manchester City coach. Some statements guided to a certain extent the English press, which reacted cautiously to Haaland’s first official match. However, City’s star signing, who missed twice before half-time and saw his goal disallowed in the second half, was not exempt from comparisons with Liverpool’s stars, especially with two: Darwin Núñez and Virgil vanDijk. This is how The Telegraph portrayed him , which did not hesitate to affirm: “In the battle of superstar forwards, Darwin Núñez was the clear winner and Erling Haaland, the disappointment.” But, in addition, the English newspaper provided quite significant data: “Haaland managed 16 touches in 90 minutes – only five more than Núñez in practically triple the time-“. More crude was the analysis of The Guardian , which starts in this way: “For Erling Haaland this was not only a debut to forget, but to crush, incinerate and bury at the bottom of the garden. He looked tired in this high summer finale with the Community Shield.” Of course, the national newspaper ends up reaching the same conclusion as Guardiola: “Haaland was lost to remind Manchester City that this will take time.” And in the meantime, Haaland touched six balls inside the area, where he met Virgil van Dijk for the first time. Another duel that served the Daily Mail to summarize City’s ‘9’ match: “Haaland’s false start! Virgil van Dijk wins the first round of this battle of the titans in which Liverpool prevailed in the Community Shield… but if Anfield fans write off the £51m Erling, they will do so at their peril.”
London, next stop
City kicks off the Premier League next Sunday, August 7, against West Ham. An appointment at the London Stadium in which Erling Haaland will also be, who will want to redeem himself after falling in the English Super Cup, although he remains to be seen with which teammates he does it. Thus, against the hammers, changes are expected in Guardiola’s eleven.