When discussing Manchester City, a large part of the conversation has been around the goals that their star striker Erling Haaland is scoring — or not scoring. But, when City plays the Norwegian is warping the way opposing teams are able to defend the club to the point that his mere presence opens spaces for his teammates. Despite “only” registering an assist in their 2-0 victory over Newcastle United, Haaland’s influence was felt everywhere, even while he didn’t add to his league leading goal total.
Haaland has scored 27 Premier League goals on only 601 touches this season, and his impact on matches shows in games even when he doesn’t score because of his excellent movement without the ball. On City’s opening goal, Kevin De Bruyne’s run to free Phil Foden was important, but Haaland, along with Ilkay Gundogan, drew the attention of four Newcastle players to give Foden space to run into.
Few forwards demand respect, and force defenders to adjust to their positioning in the way that Haaland does. When you’re on course to break the Premier League record for goals in a season — 34, shared by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer — defenses must be not only be aware of where you are, but move to try and stop you from influencing the match.
And while defenses might be able to limit Haaland’s touches, they still can’t stop him from being the most lethal striker in the Premier League. Haaland averages a shot every 7.2 touches and scores on every 22nd touch in Premier League action, so even though it can sometimes feel like he should touch the ball more, City are able to maximize his ability by giving him the ball in the most dangerous areas possible. For context, the number two striker in the Golden Boot standings, Harry Kane, only scores once in every 54 touches of the ball. That’s how Haaland manages to be a volume shooter with 83 shots this season, averaging 3.68 shots per 90 minutes, the fourth best…
