'He needs to adjust his game' - Man Utd coach aims dig at Haaland

Stuart Telford

• 28 Sept 2023 14:49 BST
• 3 min read

Erling Haaland may be smashing Premier League goalscoring records for Manchester City, but he remains too one-dimensional according to Manchester United coach Benni McCarthy.

Haaland hit the ground running at Man City following his €60 million arrival from Borussia Dortmund last season, concluding the campaign with 36 Premier League goals - breaking the single-season records held by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole since the mid-1990s.

He has another eight from six this season, as well as three from three in career meetings with Man Utd, but former South Africa striker McCarthy doesn't think the young Norwegian is the finished article yet.

READ: Haaland makes Lionel Messi admission and sends rivals TERRIFYING message

"I think he's a great striker," McCarthy told South African radio station 947 Joburg. "He's still got loads of room for improvement. I observe and analyse a lot of attacking players, sometimes I just feel he can improve his game a little bit, especially when defenders try to mark him out of the game.

No solution to Rudiger

"I saw against Real Madrid, Antonio Rudiger was so tight on him and he ended up not having a solution, even though he's such a strong and powerful player. He's got speed, heading ability, but you need to adjust your game to play against different kinds of defenders."

Rudiger had kept Haaland quiet when Real held City to a 1-1 draw in last season's Champions League semi-final first leg, but City won the second 4-0 - even if Julian Alvarez, Manuel Akanji and Bernardo Silva (x2) got their goals - before beating Inter Milan 1-0 in the final.

READ: Alvarez is becoming a big problem for Pep Guardiola

McCarthy was, like Haaland, a European champion, helping fire Jose Mourinho's Porto to their shock Champions League triumph back in 2004.

Haaland is the most valuable player in the world per FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm at €141.5m, meanwhile, and would likely break the world transfer record should he make a move to Real Madrid, or indeed anyone else, before the conclusion of his City contract in June 2027.