Forgive yourself if you’ve lost count – Erling Haaland himself probably has by now. Numbers are not necessary to conclude this is one of the finest goal-scoring seasons in English history.
But here they are, for the record. Haaland’s league tally of 27 would have won him the Golden Boot in 19 of 30 Premier League seasons and, going back further, he would have topped the scoring charts in 71 of 141 English top-flight campaigns.
In local context, Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero – perhaps the finest player to wear the shirt – never hit 27 league goals in one season. Haaland’s tally is now the best of any City player since Francis Lee’s 33 in 1971-72.
So if you wondered what Haaland brings to this team, a genuine question posed many times in recent weeks, there’s your answer.
The Norwegian scored one and assisted another as City put in their most convincing and complete performance of 2023. Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden made a rare start and both added goals in a thumping win on the south coast.
It moved City two points behind leaders Arsenal and Pep Guardiola vowed his team will fight until the last day to win a fifth title in the last six seasons.
‘I am seeing it every day, the motivation is exceptional,’ he said. ‘We have played a lot of away games recently with not much rest.
‘We will fight for this Premier League. I have no doubts. I said to my players, “Look how happy the fans are when we win”.
‘They travelled four or five hours here, so my players have to run and above all else, they must give maximum effort. While I’m here, that will never be in doubt.’
Haaland has never been the problem as City have struggled with inconsistency since the World Cup break – it’s been the lack of help from elsewhere on the pitch, and a defence that has uncharacteristically leaked goals.
City came here on the back of a pair of 1-1 draws, taking the lead and conceding from their opponents’ first shot on target in both, so Guardiola opted to change his system again.
The Haaland conundrum rumbled on last week as the Catalan boss was tasked to solve how to simultaneously get the best out of his striker without disrupting the fluidity of the other 10 men.
Normally on the back of uncertain form, Guardiola bemuses us all with a funky formation and the early stages here looked like a variation of the old-school 4-4-2, with Julian Alvarez complementing Haaland, and Phil Foden high on the right flank.
All three combined for City’s first goal on 15 minutes, to end any fears that it would be another long evening trying to break down a stubborn five-man defence.
Rico Lewis showed brilliant reading of the game to win the ball high up the pitch and captain Ilkay Gundogan dinked a delightful pass to Foden. The Englishman was thwarted by Neto, then the bar denied Haaland, but Alvarez was there to easily tap home.
The Norwegian looked hungry and Alvarez’s presence alongside him is no coincidence. City have preferred safe passes to control recent games but, here, the midfielders’ instinct seemed to be, ‘Where’s Erling?’.
Haaland’s goal was like many of his album of hits: right place, right time. Like Lewis for the first goal, it came from fine work from a full-back, Nathan Ake setting in motion a zapping move that culminated in Foden teeing up Haaland.
It’s been a tough 2023 for Foden, who has been jettisoned from the team through injury and attitude problems. But on his 200th City outing, the 22-year-old shone and soon added a goal of his own after intercepting a stray Philip Billing pass.
‘It was a decent performance and we got punished for a couple of mistakes,’ said Cherries boss Gary O’Neil. ‘There was lots to be positive about.’
Alvarez celebrated what he thought was his brace when his half-volley deflected off Chris Mepham for 4-0 but his shot was going wide and it was awarded as an own goal.
From there, this was a procession for City, whose fans sang their rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere’. After trips to Nottingham, Leipzig and Bournemouth in a week – with another to Bristol in the FA Cup on Tuesday – the lyrics felt quite apt.
Bournemouth fans, though, had little to sing about. Jefferson Lerma pulled one back on 83 minutes but that was the first time they seriously threatened Ederson. Until then, their biggest cheer of the evening came to applaud former player Ake.
After the fourth of five away games in a fortnight, Guardiola used his substitutions to rest his key men, with debutant Maximo Perrone replacing Haaland and minutes given to fringe players.
As Haaland trudged off, the away end serenaded and saluted him with Norwegian flags and songs of, ‘Erling Haaland, he’s scored more than you’, a nod to him out-scoring Bournemouth – and seven other Premier League teams – this season. The records keep tumbling.
SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk
