Erling Haaland Making English Soccer Look Like A ‘Farmer’s League’

After scoring twice in Manchester City’s 3-1 victory against Leeds United star striker Erling Haaland wanted more.

“I’ve been at home, being a bit mad that I’m not playing at the World Cup,” the tall Norwegian told television reporters after the game.

“To watch other people score to win games at the World Cup kind of triggers, motivates and irritates me. I’m more hungry and I’m more ready than ever.”

It wasn’t just missing out on the action in Qatar due to his national team’s failure to qualify that riled up the forward, his performance in his first game back in the Premier League left him frustrated.

“I could’ve scored five, that’s the truth,” he added, “we win, that’s the most important thing […] but for me as a striker, I could’ve scored a couple more. That’s life, I have to practice more.”

His manager Pep Guardiola was in agreement that Haaland, who suffered a minor injury during the World Cup break, could improve.

“He is still not at his best, as he was at the beginning of the season,” said the Manchester City coach “the injury he had at Dortmund affected him for a long period.”

“To move his huge body is not easy for him but the more minutes he can play, the better he will be,” he added, “I had the feeling in the first half of the season, [the chance he had and missed] in the first minute against Liverpool [in the previous game], and today the second minute against Leeds, it’s a goal.

“It is these details that are a little [less] sharp,” the coach added.

The prospect of an even more clinical Haaland is terrifying because he’s already laying waste to a host of Premier League records.

His brace against Leeds United brought his domestic total for the season to 20 goals in a mere 14 appearances.

It is the quickest any player has reached the landmark in the division’s history, seven faster than previous record holder Kevin Phillips and 12 games faster than the likes of Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Diego Costa.

It feels inevitable that, should Haaland stay fit and improve in the way Pep Guardiola hopes, he will claim a host of records.

This begs the question – is the Premier League all it’s cracked up to be?

Few predicted Haaland would score at the rate he had in Norway, Austria and Germany when he moved to the self-proclaimed ‘best league in the world’, but he has replicated his incredible stats with ease.

The doubters

It would be wrong to suggest that Haaland arrived in Manchester anything less than one of the most talented strikers in world soccer.

Chased by almost every elite club, from Real Madrid and Barcelona to Liverpool and Chelsea, his signature represented a major coup for Pep Guardiola’s men.

But there were doubts that his immense physical prowess and lightning pace would click so immediately once he donned the sky blue jersey.

Former Arsenal midfielder turned pundit Paul Merson was one of several who suggested in the Premier League he would not be afforded the space which had made him such a deadly marksman in Germany.

“You look at Haaland’s goals and there are a lot of graspy-ons. A lot of grass, over the top, pace runs onto it,” Merson said.

“He’s a very good finisher but it’s a completely different game when you get to Manchester City. You kick-off and ten players all stand on the edge of their box and you’ve got to break them down, you’ve got to show gall.”

Comparing Haaland to two other imposing number 9’s, the media commentator claimed City had taken a risk and would have been better off pushing again for the previous summer’s top target Harry Kane.

“This [was] the problem with Lukaku. He ripped it up at Everton and ripped it up at West Brom. Where teams come and have a go, he is a handful. When it is on the edge of the box, Lukaku ain’t got nowhere to go. He wants to run into space,” he continued, “I’d have taken Harry Kane all day long.”

Merson’s prediction turned out to be wrong, but is it because Haaland is so good or because the league is not as people say?

An exception or uncomfortable truth?

‘Farmers League’ is an insult thrown about online when a player’s record from a division outside of the traditional big three; Spain, Italy and England is presented.

Most commonly used to describe Ligue 1 in France, the phrase mockingly refers to a semi-pro division where the players are not all full-time professionals making any achievement caveated.

But by most measures, Haaland has made the Premier League look like a Farmers League.

It’s not just that he has scored a lot it’s that he’s done it against every type of opponent, elite sides as well as underdogs.

A 0.5 goal-per-game ratio used to be considered prolific at the top of English soccer, but the Norwegian striker has made anything less than 1.0 look meager.

However, before people become too down about a lowering of Premier League standards it’s important to remember who he is playing for.

As I’ve pointed out previously, Manchester City is one of the most productive teams on the continent when it comes to creating chances and scoring goals.

Before Haaland joined the club they were consistently bagging well over 100 a season across 50-60 games.

Even in matches where they didn’t score, their expected goals-the metric that provides a numeric value for the quality of chances a side produces-was over two a game.

It would have been hard for an average striker to at least not get into double figures for the Citizens and Haaland’s stats for chance conversion were the best in Europe.

What is a testament to the standards of the Premier League is that his incredible goalscoring has not pushed Manchester City clear of the rest.

Arsenal, a side who last won the title 20 years ago, is currently five points ahead of City.

Whether this is a vindication of the standard is debatable, it certainly demonstrates its competitiveness.