Forever Blue With Ian Cheeseman: High Hopes For Haaland

The 2022/23 Premier League season is up and running and for Manchester City it was business as usual, in fact better than usual, as they won 2-0 at West Ham United.

Last season the blues drew 2-2 at the London Stadium, so if you compare results year on year City are already two points up. Their main recent rivals, Liverpool, dropped two points at Fulham but Arsenal and Tottenham both impressed in their opening fixtures. I think it’s going to be a fascinating title race this season.

Let’s dissect that City performance in greater depth. I was high up in the away end at the London Stadium, so I had the perfect vantage point to see the runs, the goals and contributions of Erling Haaland, the striker everyone wanted to sign during the summer. His pace was impressive and his runs in attacking positions were clever and clinical. 

Kevin De Bruyne is the perfect player to have in your team when Haaland is leading the line. He can execute the perfect pinpoint pass, almost without trying, and that’s exactly what he did for the second goal when the Norwegian galloped perfectly into position before reshaping his body and, almost nonchalantly, sweeping it past the West Ham goalkeeper. The first goal, a penalty, was also a perfect KDB pass to Haaland in full flow, who was brought down for the spot kick. It’s a marriage made in heaven.

City have the clinical finisher they're craving. I spoke to David Cross on my Forever Blue podcast this week and the former City and West Ham striker told me that when he was a player for the Hammers he loved playing alongside Trevor Brooking because he always knew that even when the West Ham midfielder was facing the wrong way, out on the touchline, he could run confidently into the penalty area and expect a pinpoint pass to pick him out for a goal scoring opportunity. That’s how Haaland must feel about De Bruyne. There surely is not a better midfielder in World football than the Belgian maestro. 

Will that wonderful partnership be enough for City to retain their Premier League title while also adding the Champions League trophy to their pile of silverware achieved under Pep Guardiola? I think there’s a good chance it will. Haaland and KDB are two very special footballers. The one anxiety I have is that now that the team is being redesigned to get the best out of the pair, what if one or the other gets a long term injury? 

It’s too early to make a definitive assessment of Julian Alvarez, the other striker City signed during the summer, but the early signs are that he might be able to deputise and allow Pep to ration Haaland’s game time. The new five substitutions rule means that what happened at West Ham on Sunday may be the norm. Alvarez replaced Haaland once the Blues had a two goal advantage. 

As far as KDB is concerned, replacing him would be tougher. Jack Grealish has spent almost every minute of his City career wide out on the left hand side, constantly cutting backwards and sideways, seemingly preferring cautious possession keeping rather than taking risks. De Bruyne misplaces passes in every game but when he gets it right it usually ends with a goal. If Grealish is to fulfil his potential in a sky blue shirt he has to start taking risks. Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden are also capable of picking out the incisive runs of Haaland. 

Next up for the Blues is the first home game of the season when newly promoted Bournemouth visit the Etihad Stadium, so I’d expect City to make it two wins out of two, especially if De Bruyne and Haaland replicate their telepathic understand and clinical execution on Saturday.

Don’t forget I present SportsTalk, every Friday on Tameside Radio 103.6FM from 7pm.