It's probably fair to say that Manchester United legend and Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane was not impressed with Erling Haaland's performance in Manchester City's 0-0 draw with Arsenal on Sunday.
«The levels of his general play is so poor,» Keane said of the Norwegian post-match. «Not just today, I think his laying stuff off, headers, whatever it might be — in front of goal he's the best in the world — but for his general play for such a player it is so poor...he has to improve that.
»He's almost like a League Two player, that's the way I look at him. His general play has to improve, and it will do over the next few years."
It's time to address the elephant in the room — is Haaland's general play really that bad? Is he really as awful as a League Two player?
Right, this clearly isn't Haaland's problem. Let's make this clear. 236 club goals in 288 appearances — including 81 in 88 for City alone — make that pretty obvious.
He has his human moments — that skied effort from just two yards out against United a few weeks ago lingers in the memory — but finishing is Haaland's key strength.
For someone of Haaland's clean and sharp technical ability, he probably should have a better first touch, but it's hardly a significant weakness of his.
After all, his great flexibility means he can bring the ball down in ways even the most agile of gymnasts would only dream of.
Ah, a first point of contention.
Haaland stands at a rather sizeable 6ft4, yet only 22 of his 288 goals have come with his head.
Remember that remark about his gangly flexibility? It's almost as if this encourages him to try and find the net at ridiculous angles and degrees with his feet rather than just go with his noggin.
Imagine Haaland in a Sam Allardyce team. Imagine Haaland
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