Erling Haaland sank to the floor at full time, bereft of energy. Fittingly it was Rodri who helped him up, another titan of what could come to be acknowledged as a title-defining victory over Newcastle. Haaland had given everything for the Manchester City cause.His performance probably won them the game – but not in the conventional way.
Ordinarily, the striker is lauded for scoring infinite goals. His personal tally (22 for the season) is five more than the next best Premier League player (Igor Thiago) and accounts for nearly 40 per cent of City’s total overall.
But his latest performance was not one of sparkle or finesse in the box. He did not score either of Man City’s two goals. Instead he was praised for playing the disruptor role, much like a central defender in many phases of play, his duel count a career high and the same number as Rodri managed (12). No City player made more clearances.
Image:
Erling Haaland drained himself of all energy in victory over Newcastle
“Erling was the player of the match,” said Pep afterwards, despite Nico O’Reilly’s match-winning double. “Against man-marking you have to play more direct and if you don’t fight the balls 50/50, no chance. And he did it.”
Haaland had earned his congratulations, chiefly for embracing the demands of an evolved role without being offered the rewards a striker craves in return. “I’m only a bit sad because there were not a lot of actions that could make the last pass to him, they didn’t find him,” Pep said, amid lengthy adoration.
The 10-day rest, not involved against Salford at the weekend, did the trick as Haaland engaged in a good old-fashioned tussle with Dan Burn. He actually takes pleasure in such fraught battles. Neither gave much away physically but Haaland’s importance was demonstrated in the clever ways City opened Newcastle up in the first half.
This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if…
2026-02-23 09:41:00
