Haaland: I'm like a zombie, walking around in my own world

Erling Haaland is entering his second season in the Premier League, and his body language, similar to last year, suggests he could defend his top-scorer title. After seven opening games, the Norwegian is slightly less lethal than last competitive year. Then he had 11, and now he has eight goals on his account, but there is no one more deadly on the scorers list.

No one in Europe can brag with the numbers of the current Golden Boot. It is enough to underline the number of games and goals in his career. Statistics show that he played 203 games in Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and the Norwegian national team and only four goals less than the number of appearances. Terrifying.

Hence the paradox that matches in which Haaland fails to checkmate the opposing goalkeeper are played more in public than vice versa.

"It's become a reality and it's a positive thing - people are more shocked when I don't score a goal than when I shake the net," Haaland said with a laugh in a big interview with the British Telegraph and continued in the same tone: "Norwegian media highlight the fact in the headlines that I didn't score a goal. Thats is it how is it. I'm not complaining. I signed for Manchester City to score goals and I was expected to do that - maybe not to this extent! But I'm still the one who will put the ball in the net."

With 36 goals in the last season and eight more in the current one, Haaland reached the figure of 44 goals in the Premier League. He scores 1.05 goals per match and is 216 goals behind the absolute record holder Alan Shearer. The legendary Englishman is undisputed with 260 goals, Harry Kane is close with only 47 goals less, but he left the Premier League. Currently, Shearer's closest companion among active players is 31-year-old Mohamed Salah with 142 goals and it does not seem realistic that the Egyptian will catch up to him. And Haaland, no matter how far he is at the moment, looks like the most realistic, potential successor to Shearer.

“How long is my contract (with Manchester City)? Three years and 10 months left? So, there is still time to do it, no?” said the Norwegian.

“But if I will still be 15 years longer in England then why not? We will see…”

His teammate from the Norwegian national team, Martin Odegaard, characterized Haaland as a beast, Jurgen Klopp said he is a miracle of nature, Guardiola called him as unstoppable, and all those nicknames and comparisons are quite appropriate. However, Haaland inflicted one on himself, completely unexpected.

"Zombie. Often people can criticize that I don't have a lot of contact with the ball during games. I can get involved, play the ball a few times, but often I just kind of walk around, make moves in my own world and not... hard is to explain. I come out of my body and become a zombie. It's like I'm looking around waiting for an opportunity. And when the opportunity comes, I know I have to be ready. I'm still on, but I'm kind of walking around and scanning. I'm waiting for a chance and if the ball comes, it can that one thing happens, and if the ball goes the other way, the other can happen. That's the feeling. When the play is built from the back, I know I don't have to participate. I stand there and wait for the right moment."

It didn't take much time for the Premier League players to see that sometimes even two are not enough to guard Haaland, but the impression is that the defenders in the 2023/24 competition are even more aggressively following Haaland's every step around the penalty area.

"I feel that opposing defenses are much more engaged in stopping me, putting more guards on me. But that's okay, I don't mind. It's a bigger challenge when you have more rivals against you and that means there's more space elsewhere on the pitch (for my teammates). It's just like that. I'm just doing my job and trying to contribute like last season."

The Norwegian was asked which moment was the most memorable in his career so far.

"It was those 30 seconds after the referee blew the final whistle in the Champions League final. I don't know, but I hope that at least one more time in my life I will experience that feeling, the best I've ever had. It was unreal. I came to Manchester to win the Champions League. We did it. We won the treble. I think I changed the way City play a bit. Of course, it's not easy to work with Pep, who is such a demanding coach. I came in very positive, to put the icing on City's cake. My focus was on the Champions League, which had eluded me for so many years, while I approached the Premier League in a more relaxed way, but I helped a lot with my goals there as well. But I felt enormous pressure. A new country and all eyes on you and constant questions from the public that I'm ready to shine in my first season on the biggest stage."

Interestingly, at this year's premiere of the Premier League, Haaland already announced a convincing triumph for City with two goals in the first half. However, despite the Citizens' lead, Pep Guardiola started shouting at the double scorer as soon as the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half. Just another confirmation of what a football perfectionist the Spanish expert is.

"Guardiola demands so much in training. When we spoke before I signed the contract he told me 'I don't care what you do, do whatever you want. But when you're on the pitch (whether in training or in a game) you have to be focused. Otherwise I'll smash you," Haaland said, pointing out that it's this intensity that can't be ignored that makes Guardiola so special.

"He's really like that. The pressure is constantly there. Just look at the amount of pressure we have every day as a club, as a team and as individuals. But we have to be focused for that hour in training every day, and use the rest of the day to relax, to put football completely aside and not think about anything. That's why he's so successful. After training - there is no football. You think, develop and progress on the field. You are focused there. Also, those small details. I am a striker, I am not so involved in all the happenings on the field, but I have to be present with my thoughts. And suddenly, the ball comes. If I am not there, the chance is lost," Haaland pointed out.