BBCcom_Content_Index_for_May_14_2025.txt
Erling_Haaland_What_makes_Manchester_City_striker_such_a_good_goalscorer_-_BBC_Sport.txt
What makes five-goal Haaland such a phenomenal goalscorer?poker go watchImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, In his debut season with Manchester City, Erling Haaland broke the record for the most goals scored by a player in a Premier League season with 36ByChris CollinsonBBC Sport statisticianPublished9 September 2025757 CommentsErling Haaland has done it again.A little more than a week ago, his goal against Brighton meant he claimed yet another Premier League record, with his 88 goals the most any player has scored in their first 100 games.Now, the Norwegian striker has taken his tally to 48 goals in 45 games for his country with five goals in their 11-1 win against Moldova on Tuesday. His fifth treble for Norway.Remember, he also scored 86 goals in 89 games for Dortmund, prior to coming to City.With such an incredible goalscoring record, it makes sense to consider the Manchester City striker an unbelievable finisher. But Haaland's finishing is not what makes him a phenomenal goalscorer.Given the quantity and quality of chances that Haaland has had since joining the Premier League in 2022, the average player historically would have scored about 84 goals, meaning that the Norwegian's finishing being above-average accounts for just four of his incredible goals tally (and just two if you exclude penalties).It's the same for the other top scorers in the Premier League in that time too, with the ability of players like Mohamed Salah and Ollie Watkins to regularly get chances the key to them scoring so many goals.Haaland's critics might jump on this as proof that anyone could score bundles of goals if they played up front for Manchester City.But what that fails to recognise is that no other player would get as many and as good chances as Haaland does because they're not as strong, fast or tall as he is.Nor do they have the incredible movement, anticipation and reflexes that he does that make him such an unmanageable monstrosity for defenders.While obviously playing for Pep Guardiola's side means he gets great service from his team-mates, if we compare his non-penalty numbers to another world-class striker who's played there - Sergio Aguero - Haaland's brilliance in getting great chances becomes clear.Despite shooting more often than Haaland, Aguero didn't score as many goals and, looking at their shot conversion rates, it seems that the Norwegian was simply more clinical.But when we take the quality of their shots into account, Aguero was actually a better finisher - converting 2% more of his chances than a player would historically.However, Haaland consistently creates himself much better chances to score, so he still comes out as the better goalscorer overall.Looking at the top forwards in Europe's top five leagues since Haaland joined City, it's clear that most have to choose between taking lots of lower-quality shots - like Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe - or fewer, high-quality ones - like Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy - to score their goals.But not Haaland. He takes a lot of shots and barely compromises on the quality.The only players who do the same are Paris St-Germain's Goncalo Ramos - who often benefits from playing against tired defences as a substitute - and Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski, who many consider the greatest striker of the past decade.Haaland's ability to consistently get great chances to score is so remarkable that other world-class forwards playing for other world-class teams have to be better finishers to score as many goals as he does.Even this early into the new Premier League season, Haaland is already showing how unstoppable he is when it comes to getting chances.Already the top scorer with three goals in three games, he's generated twice as much xG (expected goals) as any other player and arguably should have scored more, showing that there is much more to what makes him a phenomenal goalscorer than just his finishing.Related topicsPremier LeagueManchester CityFootballNorwayMore on this storyLatest Manchester City news, analysis and fan viewsAsk about Man City - what do you want to know?Comments can not be loadedTo load Comments you need to enable JavaScript in your browserView comments | 757
