Pep Guardiola’s side have not come near to scaling the heights of last season but remain unbeaten for five months
erhaps this is just what happens when a team gets into the habit of winning: they keep on winning. They don’t have to dominate, they don’t have to carve out dozens of chances, they don’t have to hold possession for hours at a time. They just have to be, and by the quality of their being, they find goals when they need them.
Manchester City aren’t Real Madrid, not quite. They’re not yet able to doze away from kick-off, watching idly on as the opposition squander a handful of chances before, yawning, taking the first chance that comes their way. But equally they have gone 32 games unbeaten since thein December without being anywhere near the exceptional standards they set last season. Having exceptional players capable of turning games in a moment really helps.
But, just as the run-in has reached its critical point, Haaland is scoring again. He had the fewest touches of any City outfielder again on Saturday, but nobody was fretting about that because. That’s seven now in his last four outings, one of which was off the bench. His form has returned and that is very ominous for the title race.
It’s true that two of his goals were penalties, the first pretty soft. But the second of them, the hat-trick goal, was brought about by Haaland’s bullocking surge through the middle, Nélson Semedo’s clumsy lunge into his standing leg born of desperation. His second goal, though, was perhaps of more significance: Rodri’s cross was floated beyond the back post where Haaland rose above Semedo and guided a majestic header back across goal and in at the far post.
The upcoming games at Fulham and Tottenham always looked more testing for City as they close in on a fourth successive title but this, in the end, was an emphatic dismissal of a team who had beaten them earlier in the season. A towering header, two penalties, one won with a surging run, a brutal fourth … it’s safe to say Haaland is back. And when he’s in that sort of form, the team behind him doesn’t have to be playing with the slick cohesion of which it is capable.
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