Craig Burley has now claimed that Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez are causing problems for Erling Haaland at Manchester City.
The 52-year-old made the comments when speaking on ESPN.
So, what was said about Erling Haaland and the Manchester City trio? Let’s take a look…
What’s the story?
Well, Burley believes the Norway international is suffering as a result of the aforementioned trio’s tendency to dribble with the ball, rather than whip deliveries in early like Kevin De Bruyne would.
Burley said: “Doku, wants to take the ball for a run. Foden, wants to take the ball for a run. Alvarez, the same. They’re missing a Gundogan who runs through the middle of the park, which takes a defender’s eye off the ball and leaves him (Haaland) a bit more space. They haven’t got that midfielder.
“All those guys want to take the ball for a run. That’s not really getting much service to Haaland.”
Of course, the Manchester City No.9 was always going to see his goalscoring chances decrease without the Belgium international causing havoc behind him.
To build on Burley’s point, prolific dribblers such as Doku can often slow things down, which allows opposition sides to get defenders behind the ball and tight to Haaland before a cross comes in.
Erling Haaland must now adapt at Manchester City
While Doku, Foden and Alvarez are admittedly very different footballers to De Bruyne, there is nothing wrong with dribbling past defenders and creating chances that way, as opposed to swinging in early crosses.
What now needs to change is how Haaland moves to make those dribbles count.
Where the Norwegian was able to peel off his man to the back post last season, knowing that De Bruyne could pick him out, the 23-year-old now needs to familiarise himself with wingers like Doku, who can often be quite unpredictable.
The Belgian can go inside or outside of his opponent down the line, which makes it hard for Haaland to understand when a cross is coming in.
Nevertheless, the Leeds-born striker will surely get to know Doku better as the season goes on, and we can’t see his goal drought lasting for much longer.
