Erling Haaland’s poor finishing, Martin Odegaard’s return and Mario Lemina’s move to defence in The Debrief

25 November 2024, 08:45 | Updated: 25 November 2024, 09:12

Pep Guardiola has many problems to contend with at Manchester City right now, from the micro to the macro. Can he find a way to control the counter-attacks in Rodri’s absence? Does he have enough peak-age players to produce the consistency needed?

Given the apparent issues, he could have done without star striker Erling Haaland suddenly enduring his most difficult period in front of goal since signing for the club. City's defending is the primary concern but Haaland's finishing has been poor as well.

It would not have spared them in their 4-0 defeat to Tottenham but Haaland still had seven shots, the most of any player over the Premier League weekend, so he was culpable in City failing to find the net for the first time in the competition this season.

His wastefulness has been a trend of late. Fourteen players have outscored him since the middle of September despite the fact that he has had by far the best chances. He is the biggest underperformer on expected goals in the Premier League during this time.

He got away with it against Southampton but not at Brighton where he could have doubled City's lead in the first half. Even against Spurs there were a hat-trick of chances in the first 22 minutes. Haaland is a perfectionist. He will be the first to blame himself.

His five-game rolling average tracking his goal return compared to his expected goals shows that his finishing is usually reliable. During his entire City career, the gap between how many he is scoring and how many he should be scoring has never been this big.

Perhaps, curiously, that is the one comfort for Guardiola. That same graph shows that for all the criticism, for all the concerns, City are at least still creating a similar number of chances for Haaland. History suggests the striker's dip in form will not last long.

Odegaard return frees Saka

Bukayo Saka was magnificent for Arsenal in their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest, revelling in the space that he was afforded out on the right wing. Nobody had more touches in the opposition box than him across Saturday's Premier League action.

As has been discussed in this column before, funnelling the ball towards Saka in one-on-one situations is a key aspect of Mikel Arteta's game-plan. It has happened 110 times in the Premier League this season, having more one-on-ones than anyone else.

Even so, you have to go back to August to find a game in which it happened more than it did against Forest. That just happens to have been against Aston Villa - the previous occasion in which Saka shared the pitch for at least 80 minutes with Martin Odegaard.

Arsenal have missed their Norwegian playmaker in many ways but helping to feed Saka in that right channel is an important part of his role. Against Forest, he found the England winger on 18 occasions, with Saka returning the favour 18 times himself.

Arteta acknowledged the combination between his two best attacking players when speaking afterwards. "It is true that obviously the right side have played a lot of minutes. A lot. That chemistry, that understanding, that timing, it is always there," he said.

"When he is on the team, you can sense something is different. We talk about fluidity, chemistry and timing, he is one of the best to do that, to manage the tempo of the game, when to accelerate it, when to slow it down. Obviously, he has been missed."

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Lemina dropping into defence

Matheus Cunha was Wolves' hero in their come-from-behind 4-1 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage but the Brazilian owed his equaliser to a wonderful pass over the top from Mario Lemina. The Wolves captain was playing as an emergency centre-back.

The specialist defenders would have been less likely to execute the pass, while Gary O'Neil was also thrilled with Lemina defensively. "It is not that I thought it was excellent for a midfielder playing there, I thought it was an excellent centre-back performance."

The Wolves boss added: "Physically, he has the tools to play there, he is strong, he is quick, he is very good with the ball, but obviously there is a concern when you put someone there who has not played there. He has not played in the back line for years.

"I do not think he has ever played there in a four so there were concerns maybe in his positional stuff. But I thought it was a real top performance, and that is not easy to do at the highest level, when you are thrown into a position that you are not used to."

Lemina, pressed into the role alongside Toti Gomes following injuries to Yerson Mosquera, Craig Dawson and Santiago Bueno, has had to become accustomed to being shifted around this season. It has had a negative impact on his performances.

His display in the 5-3 defeat to Brentford was among his worst in a Wolves shirt and it has been difficult for him to find rhythm. Against Newcastle, for example, he started on the right wing, scored while playing as a No 10, and then finished the game at left-back.

But against former club Fulham, he won possession more than any other Wolves player, while none of his team-mates made more final-third entries. It was his driving run that set up the fourth goal too. Wherever he can fit him in, O'Neil still needs his captain.

Previously in The Debrief

GW1: Salah's sprints, Saka's one-on-ones, Mount's pressing
GW2: Calvert-Lewin's runs, Odegaard's pressing, Pereira's corners
GW3: De Bruyne's position, Gravenberch's runs, Dawson's return
GW4: Nuno's masterclass, Duran's strike rate, Nketiah's shooting
GW5: Diaz's finishing, Traore's end product, Archer's issues
GW6: McNeil's role, Kulusevski's creativity, Gravenberch's carrying
GW7: Saka's creativity, Kovacic's shooting, Mitoma's return to form
GW8: Rashford's form, Buonanotte's tackling, Gvardiol's passing
GW9: Palmer's positioning, Iwobi's passing, Savinho's box entries
GW10: Semenyo's dribbles, Salah's box-skills, Caicedo's tackling
GW11: Fernandes' positioning, Cunha's form and Robinson's overlaps

(c) Sky Sports 2024: Erling Haaland’s poor finishing, Martin Odegaard’s return and Mario Lemina’s move to defence in The Debrief