The goals that show Erling Haaland is an artist, not a robot

Erling Haaland is often portrayed as a deadly Scandinavian football machine whose sole purpose is to find the most effective way to score goals.

It’s a tempting way to describe the 1.94m Norwegian whose goalscoring records are on another level – for Manchester City he now has 97 goals in 102 games, in case you were wondering.

Most of Haaland’s goals for City have been one-touch finishes inside the penalty area — a result of being in the right place at the right time. His superb off-ball movement means he’s usually in the right position, and that’s complemented by his constant scanning of his surroundings.

They’re the kind of goals that present Haaland as an inevitable cyborg — but that’s not entirely fair. Look past his clinical strokes and you’ll see a rich vein of technique and artistry in Haaland’s finishing.

With seven goals in three Premier League games this season, Erling Haaland is… inevitable (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)

In his first season at City, Haaland has scored just once from outside the penalty area, away at Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 2022. That’s not the significance of the goal, though, because what he does is more important than where he does it.

Here Haaland receives the ball with his left leg and Maximilian Kilman stands opposite him…

Kilman expects Haaland to switch the ball to his stronger left leg, which is evident from the centre-back’s build. However, the City striker attempts a move to his left leg…

…and then pushes the ball to the right, forcing Kilman to change his body position by turning clockwise…

…and lose sight of the ball for a moment.

That fraction of a second is enough for Haaland to fire the ball into the bottom corner.

Interestingly, he shoots to the side that Kilman has just turned from, which makes it harder to block the shot because the defender’s torque is moving him in the other direction.

Another often overlooked aspect of Haaland’s game is his ability to use both feet to create the best shooting angle and finish off chances quickly.

In this example, against Nottingham Forest last April, Kevin De Bruyne finds Haaland near the penalty area, and Murillo positions himself in a way that forces Haaland to stand on his weaker right foot. The City forward uses his left leg to dribble into space…

…but then quickly fires with his right before Forest’s keeper can close the angle. In this case, Haaland’s ability to use his left and right legs in combination gives him a sub-second advantage compared to dribbling with his left leg and then firing with the same leg.

In a much more recent example, against West Ham United last Saturday, Haaland waits to receive Rico Lewis’ pass in the penalty area with Emerson Palmieri as the closest defender to the City striker. Lewis plays the pass to Haaland…

…and Emerson moves towards him, but the Norwegian controls the ball with his right foot against the left back’s direction of movement…

…and curls it into the top of the net. Again, by receiving with his right and shooting directly with his left, Haaland saves a fraction of a second compared to using only his left foot.

Another important point here is that his first touch on the ball moves the ball against Emerson’s direction of movement, making it more difficult to block the shot as the left back’s body weight is on his left leg and he is trying to block with an unbalanced right foot.

Haaland takes a risk by sending the ball back into the centre, where there is less space, rather than letting the ball roll past him, as the former option offers a better shooting angle. And it works because he cuts out Emerson by setting up the shot in the opposite direction to the left-back’s movement, in addition to the speed of execution resulting from using both feet.

Whether Haaland controls the ball with his left or right foot depends on the situation and where he wants to shoot from. In this example, against Leicester City in April 2023, De Bruyne plays the ball into Haaland’s path during an attacking transition.

Against a disorganised defence, Haaland pushes the ball into space with his first touch, clearing it away from Leicester centre-back Harry Souttar and the goalkeeper with his left foot…

…before chipping the ball over the latter to score another goal. The difference is minimal, but if Haaland uses his right foot to push the ball forward, the ball is more likely to be closer to Souttar and the keeper when he shoots.

Another example is the 1-1 draw against Liverpool in November. Haaland is positioned between Virgil van Dijk (no. 4) and Joel Matip (no. 32) when Nathan Ake passes the ball to him.

Firstly, Haaland is standing outside the goalposts when he receives the ball, making it impossible to push the ball away from Van Dijk and Alisson with his left leg as the shooting angle is already narrow.

Instead, Haaland controls the ball with his right hand instead of his left to keep the ball away from Matip and allow him to quickly use his left hand for the next move…

…in which he prepares the recording…

…and fires the ball into the far bottom corner.

The latest example comes from City’s 2-0 win over Chelsea last month, with Bernardo Silva tapping the ball to Haaland in the penalty area…

…and the Norwegian checks it with his right hand…

…but dribbles with his left hand instead of shooting…

…then uses his right hand to quickly shoot with his left hand…

…which he eventually does when he puts the ball in the net.

The reason behind the delayed shot was that Haaland predicted Robert Sanchez would stay on his line.

“Last year Sanchez made a great save for me because he stays on the line a lot,” Haaland told Sky Sports after the game. “So I took a few extra touches and he ran out and I knew exactly what to do.”

More often than not, Haaland scores with a one-touch finish because he is in the ideal position and that is all he needs to do. However, there will be other situations where more work is needed and the City striker knows exactly what to do there too.

At times, Haaland’s finishing looks robotic, but upon closer inspection the craftsmanship becomes apparent.

(Top photo: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)