Erling Haaland stars to confirm Manchester City rivals’ worst fears in Premier League debut

It was Haaland’s second goal on his Premier League debut and, for Manchester City’s rivals at home and abroad, must have confirmed their worst fears about the upgraded potency that Pep Guardiola’s team should carry with their new, destructive striker.

One game, two goals – including a penalty won and dispatched with composure – plus a celebration that involved Haaland sitting on the ground, eyes-closed in a Lotus position. First the pen, then the Zen.

Haaland is interested in meditation and, after all the hype, hullabaloo and some daft debate this week based on one iffy performance in the Community Shield about whether he would be a success in England, this was an unruffled, and emphatic, riposte.

He might even have matched the feat of his Borussia Dortmund debut when he scored a hat-trick in 23 minutes but missed with one awkward header before Pep Guardiola took him off in the 78th minute. “It was a bit shit, but it is what it is,” Haaland said of that spurned opportunity. Advised not to curse on television, he replied: “Oh shit, sorry.”

He swears when he wants, and possibly scores with that freedom, too.

Haaland is not a player who actually says a lot or, indeed, touches the ball very often but should have a colossal effect on where the biggest prizes go in the next few seasons. The goalscorer who will make City uncatchable in domestic football? Who can finally elevate Guardiola’s men to the status of European champions? Scarily, City are only just exploring his potential and how to make the best of him. In a contest against surprisingly docile opponents in West Ham United, they were a little too eager early on to seek out their new No 9.

Once an extremely brief flurry of home attacks had passed after just three minutes with a blocked shot from Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio heading over the crossbar, City took total control on a sultry afternoon at the London Stadium.

After 20 minutes, the possession count showed City on 84 per cent – it dipped by only a couple of notches by half-time – but Guardiola’s men were forcing play, trying too many chips aimed at Haaland without first working a dangerous position. From the right wing Phil Foden almost landed one floated cross on the striker’s head but Grealish, on the left, was initially struggling to find his new teammate.

After half an hour, Haaland’s most telling impact had been a raised boot that inadvertently caught Lukasz Fabianksi and forced the goalkeeper off with an injury. Alphonse Areola arrived off the bench and his first real involvement was a fateful one.

Haaland finally had the chance to run behind a deep-lying defence and Ilkay Gundogan picked him out with a smart ball between the two centre halves, Kurt Zouma and Ben Johnson, who was deputising in the absence of Craig Dawson.

Areola rushed out and committed himself but Haaland reached the ball first and was upended. Ignoring the boos, he stroked the ball into the bottom corner and went off to sit in that Zen pose of a man at peace with the world.

West Ham had managed only 74 successful passes in that first half compared with City’s 373. Afterwards, David Moyes said that his team’s struggles had been less about Haaland and more to do with Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker pushing into midfield, forcing his wider players to come inside only to then see City quickly spread the play out to Foden and Grealish.

Urged forward by frustrated fans, West Ham returned with a little more ambition after the interval and Declan Rice had a decent chance but blasted over. They had at least made it over the halfway line but then, in the 65th minute, Haaland struck again.

Even the “other” Ben Johnson might have struggled to catch the striker as he advanced onto De Bruyne’s pass, opened his body and slid his shot low and firm past Areola. Expect “De Bruyne to Haaland” followed by “goal” to be the words typed most often in the stadiums of England, and Europe, this season.

We tend to think of the most devastating partnerships involving two strikers – Toshack and Keegan, Dalglish and Rush, Cole and Yorke, Shearer and Sutton – but this pair have the potential to prove as destructive as any.

Haaland has started as he means to go on – five efforts, two goals – and his manager was delighted not only with his output but his attitude. “The way he took the ball to take the penalty, I said, ‘Oh I like it,’ ” Guardiola said.

“I think if someone were to take this ball, he would have punched his team-mates in the face. That is a good sign. You’ve got to be self-confident, ambitious and have a ruthless mentality. And of course, he scored it.

“I was fortunate as a manager to be with [Lionel] Messi and if he scored two, he wanted three, if he scored three he wanted four and if he got four he wanted five. The top goalscorers, the strikers, they are never satisfied. They are always hungry, starving, they always want more and more.”

West Ham had a debutant striker of their own, Gianluca Scamacca, the pounds 35.5 million signing from Sassuolo, who came off the bench and did force a diving save from Ederson with a decent header but he was offside. And nothing could overshadow the most eagerly anticipated arrival of the summer.

Watched by his father, Alf-Inge, the former City player, Haaland is off and running in English football. City have won the title in four of the past five seasons and Guardiola’s belief – and the fear of their rivals – is that they just got harder than ever to resist.

– The Times

Originally published as Erling Haaland stars to confirm Manchester City rivals’ worst fears in Premier League debut