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Haaland was the match-winner on Sunday
Haaland was the match-winner on Sunday
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Pep Guardiola always used to say that the best strikers in the game would live and die scoring goals. When the time comes for Erling Haaland, somebody will surely be on hand to see how many touches it has taken him.
The Norwegian is into his fifth year in English football and has scored over 100 Premier League goals. He became even more of a global phenomenon during the World Cup in the summer, where, having fired Norway to qualification for the first time in a generation, he helped them all the way to the quarter-final.
All of which is to say that he is far too famous to be judged on touches alone. Yet, for whatever reason, still it continues.
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To get it, it's a simple one-two punch.
During the first half of the Manchester derby, it was pointed out in mainstream coverage of the game how few touches Haaland had had. Even after scoring the winner in the second half - his third in the last three Premier League games and seventh in five games in all competitions - his contribution was then stripped down in interviews broadcast after the game.
Keeping such a count can be useful and doesn't have to be seen as criticism of the player, but it is usually portrayed as a sign of his involvement, even though it should be blindingly obvious to everyone who has covered a game that he can barely need multiple touches to score. When he is asked about it, as on Sunday, he makes clear that isn't really the focus of his job.
"People were probably speaking about me barely touching the ball in the first half, and that's fine," he said. "I don't think I touched the ball in the first 20 minutes, but why should I? I didn't have anything to do. But I have to stay patient and wait for the right moment and when I get the right moment it's about getting the ball in the back of the net. I managed to do that and I'm happy."
If touches aren't part of Haaland's agenda, they probably shouldn't be used so often to describe his performance. It would be like measuring Gianluigi Donnarumma by his attempted tackles.
Haaland's touch map doesn't begin to tell the story of his performance against United
Haaland's touch map doesn't begin to tell the story of his performance against United
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And if Haaland's touches are readily available to be collected during a game then so are a host of others. He had at least 13 fewer touches than any United outfield player that started, yet his expected goals of 0.87 was almost a match for all ten of his opponents (1.0); he was on the end of the two best chances of the game, and scored the only goal from one of them.
Haaland also made four dribbles, with two of them successful. On the pitch, only Iliman Ndiaye and Kobbie Mainoo could boast more from the other 21 players. The No.9 won seven out of his ten duels and three of his four aerial duels and two fouls - no United player won more.
"It's just pure instinct," Haaland said of his goalscoring, "of what I feel is the right thing to do. And, in the end, there's no solutions to this or that. How to finish, how to do this, how to do that, it's just about trying to get the ball in the back of the net and shooting good enough so the keeper cannot save it."
It sounds simple, but Haaland deserves better than to have his game crudely reduced so often to how many touches he has.
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