Haaland-Guardiola, an irresistible couple

It has also been Pep Guardiola’s season, shaping and reshaping himself as a coach-legend. Fascinating as City’s crushing form has been (in the last 10 games, they’ve scored 37 goals and conceded just four), it’s about how Pep Guardiola has harnessed the best of Haaland without shattering his ideals and how Haaland has slipped on smoothly. in Guardiola’s schemes without altering his game.

Doubts persisted at the start of the season. How long will it take Haaland to get his teeth out?

Even the upper-class operators of the Bundesliga have had trouble coping with the league’s relentlessness. How will you embroider on Pep’s tactical fabric? Will Haaland be forced to rein in his outspokenness and evolve into a forward pressing pass or a false nine? Or would Guardiola revise his fundamentals and take a more prosaic and direct approach, a retro English league approach? Some pundits, including Jamie Carragher, even scoffed that he joined the wrong club.

As the season blossomed and blossomed, waxed and waned, Guardiola and Haaland, like a happy married couple, have shown that the two need not compromise on their ultimate characteristics to achieve an irresistible partnership. Haaland could press and pass, drop into midfield, and if necessary he could be the first defensive block as well.

Pep Guardiola has taken advantage of the best of Haaland. (Archive)

Guardiola has admirably weaved his directness and physicality into the skillful passing game with some clever adjustments. To watch the latest, and arguably deadliest, iteration of City is to be amazed at both the power and beauty of the sport, each inhabiting and polishing each other in complete and controversial ways.

The biggest alteration has been in how he has redistributed his full-backs. Last season, one of his full-backs, often Joao Cancelo, would slide into midfield, while Kyle Walker loitered and overlapped as conventional full-backs would, often positioning himself outside the attacking line. extremes. But after Haaland, when attacking, the full-backs would position themselves on either side of Rodri, the central midfielder, so they could fend off quick turnovers. This has freed up Rodri, who roams outposts more freely these days.

It was a change directly necessary for the arrival of Haaland.

In recent seasons, after the fall of Sergio Agüero, City’s most advanced player was usually Gabriel Jesus, who often fell as deep as Kevin De Bruyne and behind both wingers. The Brazilian, according to Guardiola, “could put pressure on three defenders in 10 minutes.” With Haaland not dropping quite as deep, City effectively lost a length in midfield. But Guardiola has paved that crack by inserting a winger.

Guardiola has admirably weaved Haaland’s directness and physicality into the skillful passing game. (Archive)

So effectively, when they have possession, City play in a 2-3-4-1 formation. Although Guardiola has modified the forms and systems, roles and functions according to the opponents and his own form, his main objective has been to extract the best from the colossus of the Norwegian goal.

Although Guardiola has always emphasized collective rather than individual dazzle, great coaches chisel their team and formation to maximize the genius of their best player. Guardiola expanded the possibilities and functions of a false nine to bring out the best in Lionel Messi and Barcelona passing virtuosos Xavi and Andrés Iniesta. In that specific system, conventional nines like Samuel Eto’o and Zlantan Ibrahimovic backfired on his honed methods. It’s not that Guardiola was disenchanted with conventional strikers, but at that particular moment, with that particular group, he didn’t need it. At both City and Bayern, he had used Robert Lewandowski and Sergio Aguero to title-winning effect, though neither were as central to his team as Haaland now is.

Guardiola has always emphasized the collective dazzle rather than the individual. (Reuters)

Even the pass has become sharper and more direct. Exits and passing channels are straighter than ever. His movement and quality mean that City’s creative forces put as many balls into the area as possible, so that Haaland doesn’t run out of scoring chances. Although there are other goalscorers in the side, the leitmotiv seems to be finding the big, tall guy at the tip of their attack.

Haaland’s goal against Bayern is a classic case. Bayern cleared a corner, but Julián Álvarez took advantage of the clearance some 25 meters down the right. Instead of building up the play, as is the hallmark of most of Guardiola’s team, he flicks a cross up to John Stones, who heads a pounced Haaland, who deflects the ball with a sliding volley. Such three-string goals had come to City more often than ever. Subsequently, there are fewer passes into the box, replaced by wider, even longer crosses. Their directness and explosiveness have also made them lethal on breaks, though Guardiola recently dismissed suggestions that his team is becoming more of a counter-attacker. “At the end of the day, it’s just getting the ball back and running,” he quipped sarcastically. “How do you train that? It’s okay, just run,” he added.

Thus, this has been the season of both Haaland and Guardiola. The Spaniard’s gift to evolve, the willingness to change, to add deeper and more subtle layers to his training at a time in his career when he has achieved all the laurels and trophies that a coach could have achieved, has been such a facet. astonishing of City’s dominance like the rise of Haaland.