Five Manchester City players featured for their countries overnight. Rico Lewis and Kyle Walker played in England’s 3-nil win over Greece. Ederson and Savinho played in Brazil’s disappointing 1-all draw with Venezuela. Erling Haaland played and starred in Norway’s 4-1 win over Slovenia. But in the process, Manchester City’s number 9 showed that his game is evolving. That evolution was on full display in Norway’s win.
Antonio Nusa’s brace for Norway stole the headlines in their UEFA Nations League win. But from a Manchester City point of view, the performance of Erling Haaland was full of promise. Haaland dominated the game playing up front and picked up a goal and an assist in the process. But his goal and assist don’t tell the full story of his performance. Manchester City’s number 9 was heavily involved in the game before being substituted in the 87th minute.
Even the statistics don’t fully tell the story of Haaland’s performance. He only had 26 touches and completed 12 accurate passes during Norway’s win. Those in themselves aren’t huge statistics. But Haaland created 2 chances for his country and picked up an assist. That is a sign of Haaland’s evolution as a player. Haaland always could pick a pass. See his assist for Phil Foden in Manchester City’s 6-3 derby win over Manchester United in the 22/23 season. But he doesn’t have to utilise that particular skill all that often. His job is to score goals. But it is there and he showed it last night for Norway.
Haaland showed last night for Norway that he is more than just a goal scorer. That is often forgotten as Haaland’s goals get the headlines. He is much more than that. Manchester City’s number 9 showed that for Norway overnight. If he can bring that type of performance back to his club, he may quickly help lead his team out of their current four-game skid.
Haaland’s all-around display for Norway last night is the type of performance he is capable of during any game. Once he does that with consistency for Manchester City there is no stopping him and a better team the world champions will become.
