ERLING Haaland is a robot. This is certainly the case in the way the Norwegian celebrated his first goal of Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday, but also true in the way Haaland finds the back of the net with machine precision. A real robot would be less reliable in and around the opposition box.

By bagging a brace against Bournemouth, Haaland took his tally for the season to 13 goals in just 10 Premier League appearances. That works out as a goal every 66 minutes, meaning that if he were to keep up his current scoring rate and play as many minutes as he did last season, Haaland is on course for 41 goals this term.

That would be a new Premier League record, breaking the current record already held by Haaland – he netted 36 times in the 2022/23 season when Manchester City won the Treble. The way Haaland is scoring right now, the only thing that might stop him from scoring more than thirty-six this season is injury.

Haaland is so good he has forced Pep Guardiola to change his style of play. Manchester City are more direct than ever before, with Guardiola setting up his team to play into open space where Haaland can do the most damage. City are still a possession-heavy side, but the Tiki-Taka days are long gone.

 

“It’s a little like when you play with Messi or Cristiano, you know? The influence is so big,” said Guardiola about Haaland after his impressive goal-scoring display against Bournemouth. “Has he reached that level? You see the numbers of that guy? Oh my God, yeah, of course he’s at their levels.

“The difference of Cristiano and Messi, they have been doing it for 15 years. They are still doing it now. You see Messi still in MLS, he scores two or three goals every day. Cristiano and Saudi are the same. But he’s at that level and without him, it would be tough [for Manchester City].”

Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe are also putting up serious numbers this season, but neither are the force of nature Haaland is. When the Norwegian gets going, there isn’t a defender in world football capable of stopping him. Bournemouth found that out to their cost at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

It’s not just Haaland’s pace and physicality that makes him so potent. The Norwegian has worked hard on his link-up play and is doing a better job of dropping deep for Manchester City this season. Haaland will never have the all-round game of Kane or the silkiness of Mbappe, but he is geared for goalscoring more than any other forward.

Manchester City need others to step up and help Haaland on the goalscoring front. While Haaland is making history finding the back of the net so often, no other City player has scored more than a single goal in the Premier League this season. The likes of Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku have to contribute more.

 

City are in the middle of a rebuild. In Haaland, though, they have a generational goalscorer to build around, with the Norwegian tied to the club until 2034. That gives Manchester City an advantage that will surely make them contenders for the sport’s biggest prizes every season Haaland sticks around.

Haaland has scored more goals as an individual this season than half the teams in the Premier League. He has scored seven of City’s last eight league goals and 65% of their goals in all competitions so far this season. These are incredible numbers that the goal-bot continues to produce. Does not compute.

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