It was one of the most satisfying wins of his storied career, but Pep Guardiola had little time to celebrate in the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s 6-3 victory over Manchester United.
After a brief trip to the home dressing room to congratulate his team, Guardiola was back down the tunnel again to conduct six broadcast interviews and appear in a post-match press conference.
During one of those interviews, he made a telling comment when asked to compare the goalscoring talents of Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi. “The difference is that Erling needs maybe all his [team] mates to do it,” Guardiola said. “Messi had the ability for himself to do it.”
Haaland deserves every bit of praise that is coming his way, but the supporting cast around him should also be acknowledged for the part they have played in the Norway striker’s excellent start to life in Manchester. Without the assistance of his team-mates and staff, Haaland’s adaptation would not have been quite so swift and staggering.
There are two aspects to this theory, the first of which relates to the technical skills of his team-mates. Eight different players have assisted Haaland this season. Top of the pile is Kevin De Bruyne, who has set up five goals for the 22-year-old. Thanks partly to the spotlight being on Haaland, it seems to have gone unnoticed that De Bruyne is playing the best football of his City career.
“I know he is going to make a run and if I know one of my team-mates is going to make a run, I’m going to play them the ball,” De Bruyne said, understatedly, when asked about his link-up with Haaland. “I think I had good chemistry with so many good players here at City, Raz [Sterling], Gaby [Jesus], Kun [Agüero]. I have been fortunate to play with all of them but whoever is here I try to find them.”
There is something of a misconception about how City have approached games this year. Some believe they have altered their game plan and have gone more direct, but that is not the case.
This season, they have averaged 2.3 headers per game in the opposition box, compared to 2.1 last season. They are actually crossing the ball less this season. Guardiola’s side averaged 16 crosses a game last year; this season their average is 13.6.
The build-up play has largely stayed the same — play the ball out from the back, move it through the lines quickly and hope that one of the attacking players can provide a killer pass to the finisher. The only difference is that rather than having the striker or false nine occasionally drop deep, he has largely remained in the box and he has finished ruthlessly.
There is also the psychological aspect of Haaland’s introduction that reflects well on the other players. There were already a lot of big names in the dressing room before Haaland’s arrived. They have the best performing defender (Rúben Dias) and midfielder (De Bruyne) in Europe according to Uefa — plus a host of players with four Premier League winner’s medals — but they have all welcomed Haaland with open arms, realising that he will make City a better side.
“This is a team sport,” Guardiola said. “One of the most incredible things is that since Erling came, he has taken highlights and Kevin De Bruyne, our best . . . or one of our most important players, has accepted it.
“The players leave the egos outside. They help each other and this is the secret. Team sport is like that. They want to be better, and when that happens.”
The camaraderie in the City squad can perhaps be best demonstrated in the fact that every player signed the match balls that were taken home by Haaland and Phil Foden on Sunday. Acknowledging the fact that this was Haaland’s third hat-trick of the season, Aymeric Laporte wrote on his match ball: “I have signed more balls for your hat-tricks than contracts.”
The City squad is a tight-knit group. More testing fixtures lie ahead, such as the trip to Anfield a week on Sunday, but for now Haaland’s confidence is sky high after scoring 14 goals in eight Premier League matches.
The notoriously hard-to-please writers of L’Equipe gave Haaland 10/10 for his performance against Manchester United. In the publication’s 76-year history, only 14 players have been awarded full marks for their performance in a match.
“Is there any feeling better than this? No there probably isn’t,” Haaland, a lifelong City fan, said of the derby win. That was the best hat-trick so far in my life. I can safely say that.”
Amusingly, Haaland said his tradition of eating his father’s lasagne the night before games has helped him hit the ground running at his new club. “I’ve had it before every home game now and that’s turned out fairly well for me in every game,” he said. “There has to be something special he adds to it.”
