It's no secret that Erling Haaland is among the best football players on the planet. Manchester City's goal-scoring machine has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently though as other parts of his game are getting exposed and his scoring numbers are trending down.
Haaland has three goals in seven matches across all competitions for Manchester City since the start of March. He also failed to score in 137 minutes across two international friendlies with Norway in late March.
Perhaps no criticism has been harsher than that of Premier League legend turned football pundit Roy Keane. Following Manchester City's scoreless draw against Arsenal on March 31, Keane compared Haaland to a player making his living three tiers below England's top flight.
“In terms of in front of goal, he's the best in the world,” Keane said on Sky Sports. “But for his general play, it is so poor. Not just today. He has to improve. He's almost like a League Two player. His general play has to improve and it will over the next few years.”
Keane's comments did not come in a hostile way and he even began by praising Haaland, but even mentioning City's striker in the same breath as the fourth tier of English football is enough to be taken aback.
JJ Watt questions Keane's comments
JJ Watt is an NFL legend and will soon be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame among American football's greatest icons. He's long been a fan of football though and purchased a minority ownership stake in Premier League club Burnley in May 2023, just as the club gained promotion.
Watt wasn’t shy to bring up Keane's point about Haaland when he appeared on the Stick to Football podcast this week.
“I was going to bring that up earlier but I didn't know. I mean League Two striker, I mean were you smoking weed?” Watt said.
Keane was appreciative of the disagreement but doubled down on his opinion.
“I don't know what the big deal is. I give him praise every week, I give Man City praise, and I think he's an amazing striker, but his general play is that of a League Two player,” Keane said. “And I'm glad you're not agreeing with me. I don't expect people to agree with me.”
Again, things were not hostile from Keane, who was known as a bit of a hot head during his playing days. There have to be some props given to Watt though to mention the Haaland criticism, and both men deserve some applause for allowing each other to say their piece.
Opponents keying in on Haaland's style of play
Manchester City hasn’t been the dominant force they were last season when they marched toward the treble. As talented a squad as they are, there has to be some correlation between that and Erling Haaland's dip in scoring.
It partially seems unwarranted to criticize Haaland at all considering he is atop the Premier League rankings in goals and has 36 goal contributions in all competitions this season. Opposing clubs are building strategies to take Haaland out of the match though and it's on him to figure out how to break that down.
Keane mentioned Haaland's link-up play and movement off the ball as things he needs to work on. Both those points are crucial to Manchester City's success under Pep Guardiola, but Haaland hasn’t had to reform his game given the talent around him. That talent is still there and City can still score goals at will, but it feels different this season.
Erling Haaland was born to score goals. That's why Manchester City signed him. If he wants to win major awards without scoring 50 goals a season though, his overall game does have to improve.
Roy Keane wasn’t completely wrong in his criticism and other pundits have agreed with him, but the League Two mention spun his comments in a harsher light.
Haaland responded with a goal against Crystal Palace in his first appearance following Keane's observation. If he is a significant reason why Manchester City win multiple trophies this season, it's likely Keane's remarks will go by the wayside…for the time being.
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