Haaland penalty poise gives City yet another edge

Until the Norwegian arrived, Man City's penalty conversion rate ranked well below Premier League norms

Erling Haaland of Manchester City scores his team's third goal from the penalty spot. Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images

Premier League: Manchester City 4 Wolves 1

A season defined by penalties - at least as far as their European exit was concerned - featured two more against Wolves as Erling Haaland’s mastery of the art saw City edge a step closer to another date with history.

In English football’s 135-year history, no team has ever won four consecutive league titles. Thanks to this embarrassingly comfortable victory, Pep Guardiola now stands three victories away from precisely that.

That penalty shoot-out defeat in the Champions League quarters to Real Madrid last month now seem like a bad memory although, as City count the cost of that defeat, it is worth bearing in mind that Haaland missed the post-match drama, having been substituted.

Why? Because, quite simply, Haaland has answered one of the few shortcomings Guardiola’s team has displayed in his seven full seasons in charge at the Etihad.

Haaland scored twice from the spot against Wolves - to add to a brilliant header and thumping shot - taking his penalty tally for the season to eight out of nine; exactly the ratio he finished with last season.

It leaves Haaland’s 16 out of 18 conversion rate at nearly 89% which, considering Guardiola had seen his team miss a staggering 27 penalties in the seven seasons before this, must offer him some serious comfort over the final three games of the campaign.

“Having mental strength is a skill as well,” said Guardiola. “And the people say ‘ooh the penalty shooting is down to luck.’ No it’s not.

“if you are a good taker you have a better chance, if you are a good keeper you have a better chance and Erling is, of course, going to miss penalties but everyone know he is a good taker. He thinks I am going to take a penalty, I am going to score. It’s his confidence. That’s right.” 

The statistics make for an interesting study, using the baseline that top-flight football expects an 85% success rate and, this season, the Premier League is operating at a record 88.5%.

Thanks to Haaland, City have converted 12 of 13 this term, for a 92.3% mark that is, by a long way, the best of Guardiola’s reign in charge. City’s conversion stats have ranged from a low of 62.5% - in the season they lost the league to Liverpool - to a high of 78.5% in 2021-22.  

Given that Arsenal and City both scored their opening goals in comfortable wins on Saturday from the spot, having Haaland is yet another psychological edge for Guardiola’s team.

That was just one area in which City looked unflappable on Saturday. A post-match interviewer gamely tried to elicit a response out of Haaland by reminding him that his father’s nemesis, TV pundit Roy Keane, had described him as a “League Two player” recently.

“I don’t really care that much about that man, so that’s all right,” said Haaland. “The boys have been through this many years — the club also. I’ve got experience from last year, it’s about focusing on game by game."

Although there was some talk at the Etihad on Saturday about City possibly missing a chance to eat further into Arsenal’s goal difference advantage, Guardiola, correctly, identified that topic as moot.

For him, the maths have been relatively straightforward for some time - anything less than victory in their final three league games will end in failure with, the City manager clearly assumes, Arsenal set to win at Manchester United on Sunday and at home to Everton on the final day.

In that context, it makes the need for late-season “mind games” irrelevant ahead of a weekend in which City go to Fulham on Saturday.

“If we play Fulham after or before, we have to win and Arsenal knows they have to win,” said Guardiola.

“And not just the starting XI. The staff, the players, the fans, everyone knows you cannot make one little mistake because you will lose the Premier League. They know it, we know it, what happened in Liverpool in the past.

“Today we arrived here and the players knew guys if we don’t win, ciao, ciao, bye bye, next season we see each other! It’s not complicated. It doesn’t matter if it’s before or after.

“Since the winter break, the way they (Arsenal) are playing. It’s not the fact that they are winning, it’s the way they play, so you smell that they are not going to lose in the games they have left. They are not going to.” 

MAN CITY (4–2-3-1): Ederson 6; Walker 6, Akanji 6, Ake 7 (Stones 68, 6), Gvardiol 7; Kovacic 7, Rodri 7; Silva 7 (Doku 80), De Bruyne 7 (Nunes 79, 5), Foden 8 (Grealish 80); Haaland 9 (Alvarez 82). 

Subs not used: Dias, Ortega, Gomez, Lewis.

WOLVES (4-3-3): Sa 6; Semedo 5, Kilman 5, Toti 5, H Bueno 5 (S Bueno 71, 5); Joao Gomes 5, Lemina 5 (Bellegarde 46, 5), Traore 5; Ait-Nouri 6, Hwang 7 (Chirewa 87), Cunha 7 (Sarabia 76, 5). 

Subs not used: Doherty, S Bueno, Sarabia, Bentley, Gonzalez, Okoduwa, Chirewa, Fraser.

Referee: C Pawson 6