Tag Archives: Erling Haaland

Record Breaker (Again!)

This is beginning to feel like the season Aguero started to break the Manchester City goalscoring records that had stood for decades. Each week there seemed to be a new one. Well, last night it was a privilege being at the Etihad to see Erling Haaland break the Premier League’s seasonal goalscoring record with City’s second in their 3-0 victory over West Ham United. He netted his 35th Premier League goal of the season and then Phil Foden scored the 1000th goal of Pep’s City reign.

Ths South Stand pre-match, City v West Ham 3 May 2023. The new Pep flag.

It is also worth highlighting that only 47 players have scored more competitive goals for City than Haaland has in the club’s entire history – that’s in their entire careers, not in most of one season!

The Norwegian is now on 51 in all competitions, 12 behind Dixie Dean’s all-time English record. Obviously, we’re nearing the end of the season and games are running out but it’s a target I’d love to see challenged further.

Haaland’s already City’s highest goalscorer in all competitions but there’s still one other major seasonal club record to aim for. There is only Tommy Johnson ahead of him as City’s greatest seasonal League scorer of all time. Johnson’s stats are:

Tommy Johnson

38 goals in 39 appearances during 1928-29 (City finished 8th)

Goals per game ratio: 0.9744

Most goals in a single game: 5 v Everton (6-2)

Number of games he scored in: 24

Years at City: 1920 to 1930

Here’s hoping that record goes soon. It’s always great for a historian to experience history being made. Nice work City!

Haaland was given a guard of honour by the City players, boss Pep Guardiola and the club’s backroom staff after the final whistle. Afterwards the player commented: ‘It was a nice feeling scoring that goal, it always is… It was painful when everyone hit me on the back in the guard of honour.’

Manager Pep commented: ‘He’s just 22… and still has five games left. How many games I made the substitution after a hat-trick in 60 minutes, maybe he’d have scored more. But maybe he’d have got injured. He’s special. Congratulations to him.

‘We expected him to score goals but to break Cole and Shearer records… I’m pretty sure what he wants is to win the Premier League.’

‘It’s unbelievable. How many important goals he’s scored to win games, we are so satisfied. He’s a unique person and he’s so special. He deserved the guard of honour because it’s an incredible milestone. Another day he might break his own record. He’s scored a lot of goals!’

Looking towards the South Stand pre-match, City v West Ham 3 May 2023 (West Ham fans unusually did not sell out their allocation)

50 Goals in a Season

Erling Haaland has become the first Manchester City player ever to score 50 goals in a season today when he scored a 3rd minute penalty (awarded for a foul on Alvarez). Haaland converted the penalty with a left footed shot to the bottom right corner. Not only was this his 50th competitive goal of the season but it was also his 34th Premier League goal, which equaled the record seasonal Premier League tally. The record had been held by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer.

Haaland’s Strikes

Tomorrow Manchester City face Arsenal in the League and there’s the possibility that national goalscoring records could be broken once again. A few weeks back I calculated that if Erling Haaland maintained a goal a game ratio in the remaining League fixtures for Manchester City he would better Tommy Johnson’s 38 goal tally by a goal. Since then Haaland, who is already City’s seasonal record scorer in all competitions, has indeed kept up that ratio – in fact he has surpassed it – and has now broken another barrier: 30 League goals in a season.

To celebrate this I’ve put together a feature comparing every player who has scored 30 goals or more for City, plus those Premier League goalscorers whose achievements could be bettered by Haaland this season. Here goes….

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

This article is available for subscribers. It costs £3 a month (here) or £20 a year (below) to access this and other articles on the site, including books, videos and 100s of articles. Why not try it for a month?

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Annual

This article is available for subscribers. It costs £20 a year (here) to access this and everything else on the site, including books, videos and 100s of articles.

Subscribe

Haaland Five

Last night Erling Haaland scored five against RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League. It was a phenomenal performance, coming in Manchester City’s 7-0 (8-1 on aggregate) thrashing of the German side, and broke or equalled several records. This included Tommy Johnson’s record of most goals in a season for the club. Haaland’s display against Leipzig took him to 39 goals for the season in all competitions.

Tommy Johnson’s record was established in 1928-29 when he scored 38 in 40 League and cup games. I know some will think ‘ah, but with the Champions League group stages and additional competitions like the League Cup they play more games today’ well… Haaland has achieved the record in only 36 games! That’s less than Johnson took.

Other records tumbled last night too. Haaland had netted 10 for City in the UEFA Champions League by the end of the Leipzig game… that was better than any City player had previously managed in a single campaign in the Champions League and of course the campaign is not over!

Haaland’s five against Leipzig equalled the record for the most goals in a Champions League game. His achievements match Lionel Messi for Barcelona against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, and Luiz Adriano for Shakhtar Donetsk against BATE Borisov in 2014.

After Leipzig, Haaland has scored 33 goals in 25 Champions League games, becoming the youngest player to cross the 30-goal mark at 22 years and 236 days old, 116 days younger than previous recorder holder Kylian Mbappe.

After the match Haaland told BT Sport: ‘My super strength is scoring goals. A lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper is not…

‘I was so tired after my celebrations.’

When asked about the goals afterwards Pep Guardiola commented: ‘Five goals… The problem for this guy is if he doesn’t score two or three goals he will be criticised.’ That just about summed things up well as for weeks prior to this Haaland, despite his incredible record has often been criticised by some in the media. For example, the former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher had been critical in February: ‘I’ve felt this season when he’s scored his goals, I think we’ve only seen 60 per cent of Haaland. You think of that goal he scored on the first game of the season against West Ham, the space in behind, he makes that run.’

‘I know that’s not there that often with the way City play. He’s come from a league and Borussia Dortmund where it’s a counter-attacking league and it’s end to end and you see that blistering pace. You don’t see it. He may have actually picked the wrong club to actually get the best out of him.’

No one connected with Manchester City was feeling like that, especially not as Leipzig were thrashed!

You can read about Tommy Johnson here:

MANCHESTER CITY – HALL OF FAME: Tommy Johnson

MCFC Score 4 At Anfield

On this day (7th February) in 2021 League leaders Manchester City managed a 4-1 victory over reigning Champions Liverpool. It was the Blues’ greatest win at Anfield for over 80 years.

The Blues have struggled to win at Anfield over the last 40 years (I don’t need to go through the stats, City fans get bombarded with them every time there’s a game at Anfield! So the 2021 resounding victory over Liverpool was significant. City ended up winning the League by 12 points with Manchester United second.

In 1937 the Blues managed a 5-0 victory on Good Friday (and three days later won 5-1 at Maine Road). That season the Blues went on to win the League, as they did in 2021 of course.

As the above advert shows, it cost 3 shillings for a return train fare to Anfield that day (sadly no fans were allowed in 2021).

Here’s how the MCFC match programme remembered the 1937 victory:

I love that advert – so appropriate!

Here are the League results and table following that historic win at Anfield. It’s interesting to see which clubs are no longer members of football’s top division and which of today’s giants are missing.

Here are a few snippets from a Liverpool based newspaper telling the story of that day:

Here’s a few stats from the victory over Liverpool in 2021:

  • Sterling became the third player to score 100 or more goals under Guardiola, after Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (211) and City’s Sergio Aguero (120).
  • Of all players to score at least 10 goals within the top five European leagues (England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) this season, only Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland (20 years 2021 days) is younger than Phil Foden (20 years 255 days). Now where have we heard of Haaland?
  • Since netting his first goal of the season on 15 December 2020, Ilkay Gundogan had scored at least three more Premier League goals than any other player (nine).
  • At 20 years and 255 days Phil Foden is the youngest player to score and assist in a Premier League game at Anfield.
  • Oleksandr Zinchenko made his 50th Premier League appearance on that day.

Subscribe to get access

If you would like to read the blog’s other in-depth, longer articles (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe below. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year, sign up here) or £3 a month (below) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access

If you would like to read the blog’s other in-depth, longer articles (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe below. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year, above) or £3 a month (sign up here) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time.

Subscribe

Goalscoring Nationalities

Prior to this weekend’s game with Spurs, Manchester City have had players from 41 different nations score for the Blues in the Premier League. Can you remember them all? The following 1200 word article tells the story…

Subscribe to get access

Read this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year or £3 per month (see below). Annual subscribers access everything posted to the site including interviews, talks, books and hundreds of articles plus everything posted during your subscription.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access

Monthly subscribers (£3, cancel anytime) get access to everything posted to the site since 1 October 2022 plus everything posted during your subscription.

Subscribe

Goalscoring Feats

This season has brought so many wonderful moments for Manchester City with goalscorers in particular getting the headlines for some outstanding performances and record-breaking achievements. Erling Haaland is, of course, attracting a lot of attention for his exploits, while Phil Foden has also continued to impress. It was particularly satisfying when they both scored hat tricks against United in the Manchester derby back in October. This was the first time two players had scored hat tricks in a Manchester derby and their lifetime of City support and connections adds a great deal to the achievement. 

Haaland’s goalscoring feats have caused some to ask about club records and the players who have achieved them. So for today’s piece I’m taking a look at a few past achievements to remember some of those who have done amazingly well for City over the decades while helping to highlight seasonal records that can be aimed at. 

This is available to subscribers. It costs £3 a month (paying a month at a time) or £20 a year (works out about £1.67 per month). See details below:

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. £3 per month allows subscribers to read all content posted since 1 October 2022 and everything posted during your subscription. Cancel anytime. Annual subscribers (see below) get access to everything posted since December 2020 as well.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Annual

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. £20 per yeas allows subscribers to read all content posted on the site and everything posted during your subscription.

Subscribe

The Origins of ‘Er-Ling, Erling Haaland’ Chant

A couple of days ago I posted about the birth of the MCFC Viking Call in 1976, well today lifelong City fan Bobby Ward has been in touch with a video he caught during City’s last home game of fans chanting a new Erling Haaland chant. Here’s the video (look out for the actions):

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/img_4796-1.mov

The words, if you can’t work them out, are:

What shall we do with a big Norwegian, What shall we do with a big Norwegian, Can’t stop him from scoring, Erling, Erling Haaland, Erling, Erling Haaland…

The game v Brighton on 22 October 2022 ended in a 3-1 City win with Haaland scoring twice.

I’m always keen on the development of football chants, so if you’re one of the guys who started this please get in touch with your story of the chant, the actions and so on. I’d be happy to say more about it here. You guys were certainly persistent.