sport news Erling Haaland is in a playful mood with Jack Grealish as he eyes Treble glory ... trends now
It’s Pep Guardiola’s spin on Murderball, the old Marcelo Bielsa training free-for-all. A quarter of a pitch, three teams of seven, offside only enforceable in the final few yards before goal. There don’t appear to be fouls or a referee, only physios sticking their hand up along the touchline if anybody is goal-hanging.
Manchester City have been doing it for some time and it can be manic, a constantly evolving winner-stays-on game with teams rotating which one of them stands and watches from the sidelines.
Highly-rated 17-year-old centre half Max Alleyne featured earlier this week; there might not be a more forensic test of a youngster’s ability in world football. Goals flew in, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva swearing furiously as Sergio Gomez thumped past Stefan Ortega.
The Portuguese pair gesticulated while trudging past two others who had been reduced to skulking about themselves. Yellow-bibbed, the inseparable duo Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish had been in the ear of Lorenzo Buenaventura as the fitness coach checked his watch. Effectively asking when it was their turn, over and over again.
Haaland started darting on when he thought orange bib’s Kevin De Bruyne had found Ederson’s corner, then drooped over a pole as he was left disappointed like a forlorn puppy. Soon he was barging over Maximo Perrone like a bull, shoulder-to-shoulder with scary strength, Perrone barely able to retain his balance.
Erling Haaland (middle) showed his strength in Manchester City's version of the 'Murderball' training drill
Haaland (middle) sulked on the sidelines while he waited for his turn to join in the training drill
The Norwegian's (right) friendship with Jack Grealish (left) has taken some by surprise but has added a new dimension to City's existing dynamic
Haaland and Grealish cannot stand being on the periphery of anything. Their close relationship has taken sources by surprise – one known to like a party, the other obsessed with blue-light glasses and napping – but definitely added a new dimension to City’s existing dynamic.
Coincidentally, they live on the same floor at an apartment complex in the city centre, one where they can come and go from a secluded entrance without fuss. Haaland demanded Grealish pose for celebratory pictures with him at Wembley last weekend – ‘Jack, are you coming or what?’ – and swore while saying ‘I love you’ as he gate-crashed an interview after the title win. Equally, Haaland is happy playfully pointing out the difference in their adaptation at City.
‘I told Jack that sometimes players need maybe a year or something to come into a new league and new team,’ Haaland says, delivered deadpan with a stifled smirk. ‘And sometimes players come directly in and perform… I told him this. So, yeah, there was one game, the Community Shield. I missed a couple of big chances.’
That day at the King Power Stadium – when City lost against Liverpool and Haaland fluffed his lines on debut - feels a long time ago. Fifty-two goals ago; a first season in English football for the ages ago.
In the days after the Community Shield last July, there was more than a bit of talk about whether Haaland would fit in a Guardiola set-up.
Others said Darwin Nunez, who had scored off the bench, would prove a better deal. One lad who once had a bit-part role in Eastenders, now earning a living making a series of outlandish viral remarks about various topics, went on television to say any suggestion of Haaland winning the Golden Boot was ‘disrespectful to the Establishment,’ whatever that means. Nobody from Eton has passed comment yet. He added that 15 Premier League goals would represent an ‘unbelievable’ season.
Anyway, the coaches at City were consuming all this completely dumbfounded. Haaland was too. ‘It can happen, it will happen again,’ he says. ‘What can you do? Nothing. We have to focus on the next thing, the next game and that’s what I did. I scored two goals in the next game [at West Ham], so it was still not a bad start.
‘I’m not
