The targets that present that Erling Haaland is an artist and never a robotic

Erling Haaland is regularly portrayed as a deadly Scandinavian footballing machine whose sole goal is to compute the best approach to rating targets.

It’s a tempting approach to describe a 6ft 4in (194cm) Norwegian whose goalscoring information are on one other degree — it’s now 97 targets in 102 appearances for Manchester Metropolis in case you have been questioning.

Most of Haaland’s targets for Metropolis are one-touch finishes contained in the penalty space — a results of being in the correct place on the proper time. His beautiful off-ball motion means that he’s normally within the right place, and that’s complemented by fixed scanning of his environment.

They’re the kind of targets that current Haaland as an inevitable cyborg — however that’s not totally honest. Wanting previous his scientific strikes opens up a wealthy seam of method and artistry in Haaland’s ending.

In his first season with Metropolis, Haaland scored solely as soon as from outdoors the penalty space, away to Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 2022. That’s not the importance of the purpose although, as a result of what he does is extra necessary than the place he does it.

Right here, Haaland receives the ball along with his left foot and it’s Maximilian Kilman up in opposition to him…

Kilman is anticipating Haaland to shift the ball onto his stronger left foot, which is obvious from the centre-back’s physique form. Nevertheless, the Metropolis striker dummies a transfer in direction of his left foot…

… after which pushes the ball in direction of his proper, which forces Kilman to alter his physique orientation by rotating clockwise…

… and dropping sight of the ball for a second.

That fraction of a second is sufficient for Haaland to strike the ball into the underside nook.

Curiously, he shoots in direction of the facet from which Kilman has simply rotated away. That makes the shot more durable to dam as a result of the defender’s torque is transferring him within the different path.

One other characteristic of Haaland’s recreation that’s usually ignored is his skill to make use of each ft to create one of the best capturing angle and end probabilities rapidly.

On this instance, in opposition to Nottingham Forest final April, Kevin De Bruyne finds Haaland close to the penalty space, and Murillo positions himself in a method that forces Haaland to go onto his weaker proper foot. The Metropolis striker makes use of his left foot to dribble into area…

… however then rapidly shoots along with his proper earlier than Forest’s goalkeeper can shut down the angle. On this occasion, Haaland’s skill to make use of his left and proper foot in conjunction permits him a less-than-a-second benefit in comparison with dribbling along with his left after which capturing with the identical foot.

In a way more current instance, in opposition to West Ham United final Saturday, Haaland is ready to obtain Rico Lewis’ move contained in the penalty space with Emerson Palmieri the closest defender to the Metropolis striker. Lewis performs the move to Haaland…

… and Emerson strikes in direction of him, however the Norwegian controls the ball along with his proper foot in opposition to the path of the left-back’s motion…

… and curls it into the highest of the web. Once more, by receiving along with his proper and instantly capturing along with his left Haaland saves a fraction of a second in comparison with solely utilizing his left foot.

One other key level right here is that his first contact strikes the ball in opposition to the path of Emerson’s motion, which makes it more durable to dam the shot as a result of the left-back’s physique weight is residing on his left foot and he’s making an attempt to dam with an unbalanced proper.

Haaland takes a threat by controlling the ball again in direction of the centre, the place there’s much less area, relatively than letting the ball roll throughout him, as a result of the primary choice gives a greater capturing angle. And it really works as a result of he takes Emerson out by organising the shot in the other way of the left-back’s motion, along with the velocity of the execution because of utilizing each ft.

Whether or not Haaland controls the ball along with his left or proper foot will depend on the state of affairs and the place he desires to shoot from. On this instance, in opposition to Leicester Metropolis in April 2023, De Bruyne performs the ball into the trail of Haaland on an attacking transition.

In opposition to an unorganised defence, Haaland pushes the ball into area along with his first contact by utilizing his left foot to maintain it away from Leicester’s central centre-back, Harry Souttar, and the goalkeeper…

… earlier than dinking it over the latter to attain yet one more purpose. The distinction is minimal, but when Haaland makes use of his proper foot to push the ball ahead, there’s a increased chance of it being nearer to Souttar and the goalkeeper when he’s taking the shot.

In one other instance, from the 1-1 draw in opposition to Liverpool in November, Haaland is positioned between Virgil van Dijk (No 4) and Joel Matip (No 32) when Nathan Ake performs the ball to him.

First, Haaland is positioned outdoors the goalposts when he receives the ball, which implies that pushing it away from Van Dijk and Alisson along with his left foot is a non-starter as a result of the capturing angle is already slim.

As a substitute, Haaland controls the ball along with his proper relatively than his left to distance it from Matip and permit him to rapidly use his left on the next motion…

… through which he units up the shot…

… and places the ball into the far backside nook.

The ultimate instance is from Metropolis’s 2-0 victory in opposition to Chelsea final month. Right here, Bernardo Silva flicks the ball to Haaland contained in the penalty space…

… and the Norwegian controls it along with his proper…

… however dribbles along with his left as an alternative of capturing…

… then makes use of his proper once more to have the ability to rapidly shoot along with his left…

… which he ultimately does when he chips the ball into the again of the web.

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

“Final 12 months, Sanchez had an awesome save on me as a result of he stays quite a bit on the road,” Haaland informed Sky Sports activities after the sport. “That’s why I took a few further touches, then he was dashing out and I knew precisely what to do.”

As a rule, Haaland will rating with a one-touch end as a result of he’s within the ideally suited place and that’s all he must do. Nevertheless, there will probably be different conditions the place extra work is required and the Metropolis striker is aware of exactly what to do there, too.

Typically Haaland’s ending may look robotic, however look just a little nearer and the artistry turns into clear.

(Prime photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP through Getty Pictures)