Turnovers in midfield and hurtling back 70 yards to stop counter attacks. Maybe Erling Haaland is becoming the universally accepted complete Pep Guardiola player after all.
This was one of his finest evenings in a Manchester City shirt. Not particularly because of the goals – he scores whenever, wherever – but because of the feel, the look. The most phenomenal marksman in world football had the run of east London.
Haaland has revealed that he’s never felt fitter which, while jarring with complaints of muscular fatigue behind the scenes just weeks ago, seems self-evident. A second hat-trick in eight days. Not many people have been asking if he fits into a Guardiola team recently. Funny, that.
The Norwegian is beastly. Sprightly racing into midfield to win possession, sparking a sharp counter that Jack Grealish might have finished. Then a sprint with Michail Antonio, on the back of a disorganised City corner, to thwart West Ham hurting them on the break, sticking his opposing No 9 into touch. He was almost the last man.
Do these arrive without the confidence that derives from the purity of two first-half finishes which set him clear of any of his peers? Possibly not; the two facets of his performance are likely to go together. ‘When he scores normally his pressing is better because he is happy,’ Guardiola smiled. ‘But we have a rule… everyone has to do it every time, every game.’
Erling Haaland scored another hat-trick as Manchester City won 3-1 at West Ham on Saturday
Haaland is now averaging more than one goal per game in his Premier League career
Man City’s superstar No 9 has netted 70 goals in 69 games during his Premier League career
City have now claimed three wins from their opening three Premier League games this season
Following their victory on Saturday, incumbent champions City jumped to the top of the Premier League standings.
Minutes 10, 30, and 83 saw all three goals come from a deft first touch that was placed out in front of him to provide the most harm. The first was deflected into Alphonese Areola’s far corner after Bernardo Silva released it between the centre halves.
The second struck with an unstoppable destruction after a selfless square pass from Rico Lewis into the roof of West Ham’s net. The third dinked impudently to seal the points. Each unique, each devastating.
Now, three Premier League games have yielded seven goals. After this was all over, Haaland casually gave the away end a thumbs up, and the team was complaining about how many match balls they had to sign in the previous two years. Sharpie is getting hammered a lot, and his room where those balls are kept may need to be extended.
Even if he scored a lot last season, there were still some lingering doubts about his performances. Therefore, what makes the difference is how those points are achieved, how confident and sharp he is in his scoring, and what he does off the ball.
Someone with fresh arrogance was addressed by his instinctive swipe from outside the box to complete his hat-trick against Ipswich Town last week. It was only his eighth effort from farther than eighteen yards for City. Someone was inspired to run against West Ham with newfound vigour. And then there are the small details: he gives himself more space to manoeuvre by not cutting back when receiving passes into the front. He is engaged in all of this work.
And it surely gives those behind him an extra boost. When they were in control, which was for the most part of the game, it seemed as though there was only one team playing against West Ham. Still, City needed to slog it out against them and at times it seemed like they were replicating Arsenal in dropping points.
There was some optimism for West Ham from their own perseverance and some from City’s fleeting weakness. Haaland’s first-half efforts were split between an own goal by Ruben Dias and an equaliser on minute 19 that was largely due to Mateo Kovacic’s reckless leap to win the ball back.
When Jarrod Bowen was slipped down the right by Lucas Paqueta, who would have been wearing City’s 1999 nostalgia away strip had it not been for an FA investigation, and his cross deflected in off Dias, it was evident that Kovacic’s eagerness to get involved higher up the pitch was impeding him when filling in for Rodri.
Haaland found the net in the 10th, 30th and 83rd minutes at West Ham’s London Stadium
The final goal of Saturday’s game was confirmed following a VAR check for a possible offside
Pep Guardiola pictured on the touchline during Saturday’s dominant away victory in London
Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham were blown away by City and could have lost by a bigger margin
Haaland smiled as he collected the match ball from referee Michael Oliver after full-time
Early on and for about 20 minutes after the half, West Ham unsettled City. Just like a revived Kevin De Bruyne had done earlier, Mohammed Kudus struck a post, and Bowen was seriously bothering Josko Gvardiol down the home right.
After a successful summer of recruiting, Julen Lopetegui has struck gold, and the high-octane nature of their original ideas should leave teams scratching their heads. Over the next two months, Chelsea and Manchester United will visit this place, and they will not be looking forward to it.
“City is undoubtedly among the greatest teams in history,” Lopetegui declared. “Yet it is also true that we came dangerously close to a draw in the second half.”
He is accurate. The visiting section was a little less boisterous. As West Ham raced through open midfield spaces, Guardiola complimented Lopetegui by trading in Jeremy Doku for Ilkay Gundogan in an attempt to regain possession. City tried to defuse the situation by providing Kovacic with additional help and watching Silva slow the game down wide.
Dias may have scored at the back post, but Silva was denied by Lukasz Fabianski, who replaced Areola at the half. A Bowen corner was headed wide by Max Kilman. Tomas Soucek mishandled as he had an equaliser in sight. Noel Gallagher writhed in the plush seats, taking a break from counting his money. Guardiola thrashed around his limbs.
They weren’t required to fidget. With seven minutes remaining, Haaland had once again secured victory. The eyes went blank, and Fabianski was left with little choice but to give in to the chip over his thrashing body after falling under a spell akin to that of Matheus Nunes. The frontman is undoubtedly at his best, even though City may not be quite there yet.