Rob Holding has praised Manchester City striker Erling Haaland for his movement on the pitch in goalscoring opportunities.
The 23-year-old scored 52 goals in 53 appearances last season in all competitions, cementing himself as one of the best strikers in England.
Despite being so prolific in terms of the number of times he found the back of the net last term, one Premier League player that the Norwegian faced off against in the previous campaign has spoken out about another area of the centre-forward’s game that he is head and shoulders above anyone else in.
Holding praises Haaland’s timing
Speaking in a recent video published on the Timbsy YouTube channel, Holding had this to say about Haaland and his physicality and movement on the pitch.
He said: “Haaland likes bumping you and fighting you. His timing is the best, it makes it look like he’s got so much space but if you watch just before a cross is coming in, he’ll bump you before the cross is even taken and just create that sort of yard, two yards of space, so when he comes in he has a finish because he’s got a little bit of space there’s a little bit of distance.
“People do it, but not as well, his timing is top. And he’s getting it put on a plate as well, people are putting it in the areas as well.
“Other strikers might be able to do it at lower teams and the ball doesn’t arrive where they need it, whereas that ball is put on a dime every time.”
Taking into account the highly impressive number of goals that he scored last season, it’s interesting to hear from someone who knows what it’s like to have Haaland score against him, just what the striker does to give himself so many chances to make attempts at goal.
This shows just how intelligent the Norway international is and how well he reads the game, which clearly helps him score goals, especially when he’s getting fed with lots of opportunities to score as Holding mentioned.
Moving forward, now that the Arsenal defender has shared this aspect of Haaland’s game, this could lead to other defenders across the Premier League to have a better grasp of how they could stop the City star from getting into goalscoring opportunities on such a regular basis.
