Haaland continues devastating form
Manchester City had 85 per cent possession up to the moment Erling Haaland turned in Phil Foden's cross to open the scoring against Nottingham Forest, but Haaland had not seen the ball once. There still appears to be an issue with Haaland's lack of touches, even though he averaged a goal every 15 touches going into this one.
The fact that he scored with his first touch against Forest after 12 minutes is another reminder that Haaland's lack of touches isn't a problem for anyone at City. It's a problem for defences to ensure he's not being as destructive when he does touch it. His second and third touches set up and scored the second goal, hammering home that fact, before some good build-up play and headed hat-trick goal made it three in 27 minutes and back-to-back hat-tricks in back-to-back halves.
Haaland's hold-up play improves
For all the focus on his touches and his goals, there was evidence of Erling Haaland improving when it comes to his all-round play as he became more involved in the game than simply scoring goals for fun.
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Pep Guardiola has reiterated that Haaland will have to adapt to City in time, and there were promising signs that he is becoming more in tune with the role of a number nine in coming short and laying the ball off. He made his own second goal by doing that, and created a crossing chance, too, capping a devastating performance that Forest simply couldn't handle.
Curious corner tactics
As City had a flurry of early corners, they kept four players back in a curious set-up with two defenders on the halfway line and Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden midway in the Forest half, both closely marked. One corner saw Julian Alvarez get blocked after a low cutback, and another saw Foden come wide to get the pass early, take a touch, then cross for Haaland to open the scoring.
Guardiola bemoaned City's defending at set pieces vs Crystal Palace, criticising their behaviour to want to clear the ball. In his criticism, he told them to have the same desire at attacking set plays - something clearly on show vs Forest.
Guardiola resists rotation temptation
With this being the start of six games in 18 days, and Forest at home representing the easiest of those fixtures theoretically, Guardiola could have been forgiven for resting key players like Erling Haaland to save them for bigger challenges to come.
Instead, he started both Haaland and Julian Alvarez, with only Kevin De Bruyne a surprise substitute. Even though Guardiola has teased rotation for these kind of games, especially for Haaland, he defied everyone and went stronger than expected against Forest, trusting the players to be ready for the return of the Champions League next week.
Substitutes show plan for next week
Despite scoring a hat-trick, Erling Haaland wasn't replaced at half-time, or even when Guardiola brought on Cole Palmer and Riyad Mahrez. Tellingly, it was Phil Foden and Rodri who were withdrawn, with the pair likely to have big roles in next week's clashes with Sevilla, Tottenham and Dortmund - as should second-half substitute Kevin De Bruyne.
If Haaland is fit enough to play all those games then that is a bonus for City, although it's clear Guardiola has prioritised his midfielders and wide players for rotation before Haaland at this stage.
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