Perhaps Manchester City hopes to reach 2024-25 European Champions League The 16th round did not end within five minutes, after the early Kylian MBAPPE goal, or even eight, after John Stones was injured early, but it has already ended before the start of the second stage last night.
When the news was nominated by Erling Haland, it will not be in the first PeP Guardiola collection against Real Madrid in Bernabeu, the city’s mission to the evening suddenly looked more huge than it had already been given a 3-2 Laige deficit.
It turned out that during the bad City race, which now extends for four months, Halland’s presence was considered a minor.
See, the absence of the Norwegian striker was not the reason for the city’s deposit The 3-1 defeat that followed; Their problems work much deeper. It was now clear that the midfield is “old” – in the words of Guardiola – however, it is slow and weak, and their defense suffers from injuries. Moreover, they are mentally and physically exhausting.
They generally need to put the ball on a Halland plate to make a change because he is not a player like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in their initial numbers or even the current Kylian Mbappe, who can change the game by getting the ball outside the box and creating something special.
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But he occupies the defenders and the idea that he may run behind the opposition. It does not always succeed, but it is something that can never be overlooked, and while the City season is not going well – they have long left the Premier League title, and now they were removed from the European competition as well – his Haland still scored 27 goals for the club .
The question arises: Without Halland at the present time, what remains of this city team? On Wednesday night in the Spanish capital, we may have received our answer: not much.
The city was lacking the threat without Halland in Madrid (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
They were waging, without teeth and fortunately frankly to get something, not to mention one.
Guardiola says Halland’s knee injury was taken against Newcastle on Saturday, “Nothing is dangerous.” Therefore, it must return soon, which is very good news for the city because anything big will be a big blow to their hopes of qualifying for the Champions Champions League next season of the current fourth place, a point away before the fifth, sixth and three of the seventh of the seventh. .
At its best, the city will be able to live without Halland more, but like this, they cannot do without it.
Haland will always score goals in this city team, but to reach its highest previous levels, everything needs to work in harmony. Were it not for Guardiola to find a way to make everything click together in its first season in England, which ended in the 2022-23, Halland may have broken all registration records But he had no prizes to show.
Guardiola found only a way to obtain the “additional man” in the midfield – the stones that go up from the defense – the city has become an indelible force and that won the quantity two years ago. Halland was shooting from his first match for the club, but as a unit, they only clicked in the march.
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The reason they need that the additional man is that Halland could not-and he still-the attacker who is well connected to his teammates outside the region. He has other strengths, which have become particularly important now because any goal he will do, but at its best, there should be more accuracy in the city’s play.
There was even time in his second season when I felt that the city might be better without Halland … in some matches anyway.
There is no doubt that it adds goals and threats, but given It often has very few touches in gamesWhen he does not take his chances, which occurred often last season, it may be difficult to justify his place.
Halland was trained before Madrid, but it was not fit enough to play (Karl Riben/Getty Emociz)
At the beginning of last year, when he was struggling in front of the goal, City needed to get a grip in the games, Julian Alvarez did a great job to start the foreground and decrease deeply to link the play, which helped reduce the absence of stones in the midfield. It was like the old days.
But if there is one game that stresses the importance of Halland in this second season, which showed its advantages compared to a more small striker, It was against Nottingham Forest in AprilWhen the opposition defenders were completely comfortable dealing with Alvarez, which allowed one of them to enter the midfield and stumble in the city’s midfield players.
Once Halland came out of the bench after an hour, Forest needed that Forest had a central back to guard him, allowing Kevin De Bruyne Space for the first time, and the Norwegian was established as required to register. Simple this way.
This season, it was one of the very few city players who avoid any criticism. In fact, unlike Josko Gvardiol, there may be no one else and even Gvardiol committed some errors.
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Given that the other attackers in City Canon are incomplete this season, Halland’s threat was more important than ever. It was easier for the issue to raise that the city could live without it when they had goals coming from Ilkay Gundogan, De Bruyne, RIYAD Mahrez and Phil Foden, but this argument will not stand to scrutinize now.
Omar Marmoush recorded a three -year -old on Saturday But he was calm in Madrid, just as Savinho shines and sometimes glows. The Jeremy Duku season was suffering from injuries, and hardly looks at Jack Grilliche now. De Bruyne was unable to get out of the bench in Bernabeu either with the continued fitness issues, and Foudin had previously made the next step that appeared to come at the end of the English Premier League player for 2023-24.
Savinho sometimes lights and sometimes fights (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
grant Halland signed a nine -year contract Recently, not only part of the new generation that is built in the city, but its head.
A 4-0 victory over Newcastle suggested that new signatures such as Marmush, Niko Gonzalez and Hafer Khusanov can take this team to the future, and they will definitely do so, but the lukewarm screen shows last night that no one in the team at the present time is able to escalate and make any kind From the difference.
If Halland was on the field, there would be a threat, this threat that might happen at any moment.
Without him, there was nothing.
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(Alawite Image: Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images)
