Paul Ince has said that Erling Haaland is not the same player at Manchester City as he was at Borussia Dortmund.
On talkSPORT (27/11/2023), the pundit made this claim while also praising Haaland.
Paul Ince explains how Erling Haaland plays has “changed” at Manchester City
Hailed as “absolutely unbelievable” by Mikel John Obi, the £51.2 million (Eurosport) man has arguably been the best player in the world since joining Pep Guardiola’s side.
Alan Shearer also said that the Norwegian goalscorer is just the “perfect centre-forward” as he ticks every single box an elite striker is supposed to.
Paul Ince, however, believes that while Erling Haaland is brilliant, he no longer dribbles past players at Manchester City in the same way that he would do at Borussia Dortmund.
“He’s the real deal. I feel his game has slightly changed. When he was at Dortmund, he’d take players on. Now, sometimes I see games and he’s not even involved. Sometimes, I think his retention of the ball isn’t even great, he tries to hold it up and gives things away but he smells a goal, doesn’t he?”, Ince told talkSPORT.
“He’s in a team where he is going to get chance after chance. But he’s definitely the real deal.”
While Paul Ince believes that despite largely being uninvolved in City’s build-up, Erling Haaland is excellent, many criticise him for this very trait, such as Dutch pundit, Valentijn Driessen, who claimed that “he can’t even play football.”
Erling Haaland has had to adapt his ways to the Premier League and Manchester City’s system
Unlike at Borussia Dortmund where the 23-year-old would often find himself on the break and have the space to carry the ball forward, such is not the case in sky blue.
Since Manchester City face low blocks on most matchdays, Erling Haaland is not afforded the same amount of room as he did in Germany, which is perhaps why Paul Ince believes he is a slightly different player nowadays.
In order to find a solution to breaking down such defences, Haaland is naturally deployed inside the box due to his incredible movement and goalscoring instincts.
Also, Pep Guardiola and Co. tend to dominate possession against any team in the world, which invites such pragmatic approaches from opposition managers.
However, in the Bundesliga, teams tend to have a much more attacking outlook regardless of the opposition at hand.
As a result, Erling Haaland has merely adapted to the Premier League and Manchester City’s systemic demands.
