Jamie Carragher highlighted a change in Erling Haaland's position during the first-half of Manchester City's trip to Manchester United.
The 22-year-old has been sensational since making the big-money switch to City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, with Pep Guardiola using him as an out-and-out No.9. Haaland has been used to having very few touches in games but managing to find himself on the scoresheet with some crucial finishes.
However, it seemed as though Haaland was dropping deep in the opening stages of the clash at Old Trafford and acting almost as a false nine. That had little to no impact on Haaland's contribution to the game, however, with the Norweigan having just two touches of the ball in the first 20 minutes.
Despite his struggles, ex-Liverpool defender Carragher noticed a difference in Haaland's game compared to how he started the season at City. He tweeted: "Haaland coming very deep in the build up for City, false 9!"
Before the game, Rio Ferdinand outlined how to stop Haaland with the forward currently on 21 Premier League goals in 16 matches since arriving from Dortmund in June. But Haaland failed to score in City's 1-0 league win over Chelsea last time out - a drought for his capabilities.
He told BT Sport : "We saw a couple games ago against Everton, Godfrey was really aggressive with him, tried to get under his skin, pushing and shoving, these are the questions you’ve got to ask of him. He does score in this game but he doesn't seem to have the impact that he had in previous games.
"Just doing little niggly things can really take him out of his comfort zone and reduce his concentration levels - I’ve not seen Haaland react like this in the Premier League because no one’s got near him, but Shaw doesn’t strike me as that type of player. He’s going to be trying to read things and clean up behind, try and get down the channels and don’t let Haaland in behind him. It’s going to be interesting. If they get time and quality like they did in the last game, then Haaland becomes a massive threat."
When asked about whether Haaland will be at his best, Paul Scholes said: " I certainly hope not but he is that type of player, he’s got that pedigree hasn’t he, he just looks like a superstar in the making with that goalscoring record he’s got already.
"Like the rest of the City players a little bit sluggish in the last couple of games, I think it’s a big game for Luke Shaw at centre half, can he handle the physicality of him? I think pace-wise he’ll be fine, but the physicality, strength and movement of Haaland could be a problem for him."
