In a sense, it is hard to imagine that Erling Haaland can cause too much change to Manchester City.
As Jamie Carragher said this week, the Blues have been winning the Premier League without him and have also been top scorers in the division at a very healthy rate. When you are at the top, there is not much further for you to go.
However, at the same time small improvements at the highest level can make a big difference. A single goal can be the difference between making the Champions League final or suffering an agonising semi-final exit, or taking the pressure out of a Premier League title race.
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Haaland has been brought in to leave his mark on the biggest stages, and in both league encounters against Liverpool last season there was a sense that better finishing from City would have earned them victories. The 2-2 draw at Anfield was more fair, but the Blues rightly felt disappointed after their 2-2 at the Etihad that they had 'left them alive' in the title race, as Guardiola put it.
City have no need to play Haaland on Saturday as they continue their preparations to make sure he is in the best possible condition for the start of the Premier League campaign. The 22-year-old was left out of their first friendly against Club America and played just 40 minutes against Bayern Munich in their only other game of the summer.
Julian Alvarez is in far better shape to start after playing through the summer with River Plate, while the Blues have managed without a No.9 for the last two seasons and did not lose to Liverpool in any of their four league meetings. Despite how it might be portrayed in the long week between Saturday and the start of the Premier League, this one match will not be massively significant.
However, they will have a free hit with the Norwegian in the Community Shield. Any minutes he does get can be framed in the context of getting the striker up to speed for bigger challenges to come, but any goals would instantly lay down a marker for the season and point to exactly what Haaland has been brought to Manchester to do.
Just as his goal against Bayern in the friendly was a neat introduction to life as a Blue, getting on the scoresheet against Liverpool would kill a number of criticisms waiting to be made by rival fans before they can even begin. City ultimately don't care about such things, but it would be a sweet bonus to take going into the start of the season.
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