Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon praised Manchester City’s number nine, Erling Haaland, following his heroics against Everton.
Haaland scored for the first time in the Premier League since December against Tottenham Hotspur, having only recently returned from a lengthy injury stint.
The Manchester City striker scored a devastating brace in his team’s 2-0 victory in his second appearance since his recent return to action.
Neil Lennon praises “special” Erling Haaland after Manchester City defeats Everton.
On a day when Pep Guardiola’s side struggled to create any chances, it appeared that the presence of Erling Haaland in their squad might not matter in their search for success.
Finally, some may question the value of having an excellent striker in one’s squad if the team provides little to no opportunities for him.
But, as usual, Erling Haaland shattered such assumptions by being in the right place at the right time for Manchester City to punish Everton with two well-taken goals, prompting Neil Lennon to praise him.
“That man, he’s back and he scores two brilliant goals, didn’t see much of the ball in the game but that doesn’t worry him. He is special and he is a difference today and it’s a massive win for City”, he said on Manchester City’s post-match show (via YouTube).
“The first goal’s an incredible finish because he’s read where the ball’s going to go, he backs off a little bit and then his technique, he smashes it in. And that was the ice-breaker, if you want to call it that because it was tense up until then. City hadn’t played badly but they were finding it difficult to break Everton down.”
“The goal changes it, it means Everton have to come out and then you saw on the counter-attack on the second goal, you see the brilliance of [Kevin] De Bruyne and [Erling] Haaland again.”
As long as Erling Haaland starts, Pep Guardiola and his team can never be counted out.
As Neil Lennon correctly stated after Manchester City overcame Everton, Erling Haaland is a “special” player.
Haaland’s presence is also likely to put opposition managers in a quandary.
Most teams would rather sit back and absorb pressure, but the Leeds-born striker prefers to leave room for his teammates to score and create, as seen by the amount of space Phil Foden had to score his hat-trick against Brentford.
However, if teams attempt to take the game to City, they risk being ripped apart on the break, as De Bruyne and Haaland were on Saturday.
Erling Haaland is a multi-dimensional attacking weapon, and his presence makes it dangerous to count Manchester City out in any game.
