Manchester City beat Wolves 4-0 in the Premier League with Erling Haaland scoring twice on the opening day
Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland
Manchester City identified weak points in their squad to strengthen this summer. But they also made clear improvement was needed throughout.
Erling Haaland scored 31 goals last season but joined his teammates in having an underwhelming campaign, both personally and collectively. His was still good by most standards, but he was the first to admit that he could have done better.
The summer has been a time for the 25-year-old to grow into his stature (and nine-year deal) at the Etihad. Made part of the captaincy group, Haaland has started to become more of a leader on and off the pitch.
After a poignant tribute to Diogo Jota at the start of their first Premier League game, it was Haaland who led all of his teammates into a huddle and then over to the away end to recognise their support. It was also Haaland who scored the opening goal of the game to give City a lead they would not give up.
In the opening half hour, there had been a few signs of frustration from the Norwegian at opportunities missed. He had made a number of sprints in behind the Wolves defence, he had just been missing the player to spot his run.
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In the meantime, James Trafford had had to be excellent at the back - amid a dizzying goalkeeper situation at City with Ederson left out of the squad for this game - with a number of top saves and excellent positional work to keep Wolves at bay.
Tijjani Reijnders, another making his full debut, had been caught in possession a few times as he got up to speed with the English game, and when he missed the chance to slip Haaland in in the first half it looked like another missed connection. Instead, he kept running, scooped the ball over the top for Rico Lewis and there was Haaland waiting at the back post for the square ball.
Minutes later, Haaland drew defenders as Oscar Bobb won the ball and broke up the pitch before slipping in Reijnders for a second. From an uncertain position in the game, City had taken it away from Wolves in just four minutes.
The goals summed up where City are at the minute more generally. It might not be exactly what everyone is used to amid significant chance but they are still a very good football team capable of winning a lot of football matches.
City's performance was so emphatic that Haaland could afford to be brought off with 20 minutes to go, having notched a second goal of the campaign to make it 3-0. With a clap for the crowd and a word with the manager, he could take his seat to watch a positive start for his team get even better as substitute Rayan Cherki added a fourth.
Nobody knows if they will be good enough to win the Premier League this season, or even to challenge for it, but game by game they can start to convince people. If Haaland can keep getting into his positions and leading from the front, he and City can expect a much happier season ahead.
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