After about two years away from football, I’ve started watching more Premier League action again in 2025-26.
Things that have intrigued me…
- People have come around again on Harry Maguire. He was always a good player. Just paired with the wrong sets of players and poor structural design at United. Now those structures are much better.
- Every “old” player that was around when I last watched football remains very much around. Still starting! Some of them, like Manuel Neuer(?!) still play for the same club?!
- Crystal Palace and Bournemouth aren’t just good, but really, really good.
I’ve also been intrigued by how much Manchester City have changed. Matheus Nunes continues to share minutes at right-back. Tijjani Reijnders suddenly looks like İlkay Gündoğan. Assist king Ederson has gone to Turkey, replaced by arguably the best in the position – Gianluigi Donnarruma. Yet still, the common constant – no one can stop Erling Haaland.
Embed from Getty ImagesManchester City have scored 15 goals in the Premier League’s opening 8 matches. Erling Haaland has scored 11 of them. Four other players have 1. To say this again -Haaland has scored 11. The next highest scorer on the team has 1.
That’s not normal. And neither is Erling Haaland.
He’s never been normal. He scored a hat-trick inside 25 minutes on his debut for Dortmund. A day I hope I never forget.
He’s never been normal. And opposition defenses have never come to terms with how to stop him.
Especially because of one crucial movement he often does inside the penalty area.
I call it – the backstep!
Here’s how it works!
Erling Haaland rampages toward goal, or ghosts in like he doesn’t even need to try (either way, same outcome). Defenders follow. They get scared. They rampage toward goal too.
But psych!
Haaland doesn’t want to get closer to goal. He wants to get further away from a keeper who can catch. He wants to create more distance from himself away from defenders. He wants to find the tiniest crack of space.
So what does he do? He takes a step or two back.
Instead of continuing his run, he stops. Shuffles backwards.
And now…. he’s in open space.
For a defender, this is a nightmare! Notice how Michael Keane has to position his body. He thinks he’s in a footrace! Haaland must want to crash into the box at the back-post! Le Duh! That’s what any striker would do.
Nope. Not Haaland.
He stops. He slows down.
Now he’s created the gap for himself. And at that exact moment, Nico O’Reilly takes notice.
One chance. One goal. That’s all Haaland needs. Fortunately for him and the Sky Blues, he’ll get another.
On this occasion, Idrissa Gueye sprints back. He’s got him in his sights. Haaland’s space to advance diminishes.
Idrissa Gueye, over-ambitious that Idrissa Gueye, now thinks I can handle both situations! He thinks he can shove Savinho into a 2v1, while screening a potential pass into the big Norwegian.
So as Savinho smartly delays and Gueye gets closer and closer, Haaland backsteps. You can even see him shift his body in the image above. Now when we move one second later, with that one little backwards step into the space vacated by Gueye, he’s created all the room he needs to finish.
You could, of course, make the argument – What is Idrissa Gueye doing here? His body position is all wrong and he should have just stayed with Haaland!
That is true. AND, at the same time, watch the goal in full. Watch how quickly this happens. And watch Haaland’s footwork. You will see exactly how he creates space for himself to finish where previously the space didn’t exist.
Embed from Getty ImagesThis movement isn’t unique to Haaland.
I even spoke of this with a player in the MLS called Brian White.
But the difference is the level at which Haaland is able to perceive the tiniest of spaces like this to give himself the chance of scoring. It’s a quality that so few other strikers can truly master.
Here’s another example from a match against Monaco. The ball goes back to O’Reilly from inside the box. Haaland, like he’s in an LMFAO music video, shuffles backward.
Not one, but two defenders follow.
From taking two defenders out for a little shuffle, he’s just opened up a tiny crack of space closer to goal for himself.
So as soon as the cross comes in, Haaland pounces forward again into that space.
He literally took two steps backward, to take one giant leap forward.
Airplane mode!
Goal.
For the record, this movement works whether he’s rampaging toward goal and faking the defender out, or even when he’s touch-tight to the defender.
It’s just different class.
And it’s different class because we all know how deadly Haaland can be when he’s running in behind. Defenders know this too.
If you give him space between defenders, he’ll exploit it.
If City get on the counter attack, he’ll fly into blast off mode. To infinity and beyond!
And if you leave him in a footrace against a high-line’d Harry Maguire, he will win.
This is exactly why his backstepping, side-stepping, small little shuffles work so well. You expect him to run in behind and score. So when he doesn’t, it breaks defenses just as powerfully.
Erling Haaland is the best goal-scorer on the planet, and it’s his cleverness as much as anything that makes him so. And for more on how Haaland scores so many goals, this article I wrote back in 2022 still stands…
Why Erling Haaland scores so many goals.
Thanks for reading and see you soon!
TheMastermindSite 