Haaland the fantasy frontman as City show no sympathy for Red Devils

Phil
Foden
had
fired
them
ahead
with
his
first
derby
goal
against
Manchester
United,
Kevin
De
Bruyne
was
looking
terrific,
and
Jack
Grealish
prowled
with
intent.

And
then
Haaland
decided
that,
no,
actually
it
would
be
all
about
him
again.

Premier
League:
Manchester
City
6-3
Manchester
United:
Haaland
and
Foden
hat-tricks
give
hosts
huge
derby
win

Except,
it’s
never
really
all
about
him,
is
it?
That’s
like
saying
the
Rolling
Stones
are
all
about
Mick
Jagger,
when
they’ve
had
Charlie
Watts,
Keith
Richards,
Ronnie
Wood,
and
all
those
other
fine
lads,
as
a
supporting
cast.

But
every
great
band
needs
a
frontman
with
presence,
charisma
and
delivery,
and
Haaland
is
emphatically
City’s
Jagger.

It’s
a
gas,
gas,
gas
when
Haaland’s
involved,
but
not
if
you’re
United.

He
showed
no
sympathy
for
the
Red
Devils
at
the
Etihad
Stadium,
becoming
the
first
City
player
to
score
a
hat-trick
against
United
since
Francis
Lee
in
December
1970,
and
the
first
player
in
Premier
League
history
to
net
a
hat-trick
in
three
consecutive
home
games.
Haaland
has
14
goals
in
eight
Premier
League
games
now.
Just
take
a
moment.

Here
he
complemented
his
treble
with
two
assists,
helping
Foden
on
his
way
to
finding
the
back
of
the
United
net
three
times.

United
looked
to
have
turned
a
corner
after
a
rotten
start
under
Erik
ten
Hag,
winning
four
Premier
League
games
in
a
row
after
early
aberrations
against
Brighton
and
Hove
Albion
and
Brentford.

The
3-1
win
over
leaders
Arsenal
was
four
weeks
ago,
though,
their
last
outing
in
the
competition,
and
it
turns
out
that
around
the
corner
we
thought
they’d
turned
was
into
a
blue
brick
wall.
United
crashed
headlong
into
it,
and
now
what
should
we
make
of
them?
This
served
as
a
cruel
reminder
that
United
are
light
years
behind
their
neighbours.

It
was
City’s
first-ever
six-goal
haul
at
home
to
United.

City
were
rampant
from
the
early
stages,
with
Haaland,
De
Bruyne
and
Bernardo
Silva
peppering
the
United
goal
in
just
the
third
minute,
red-shirted
sprawled
limbs
just
about
repelling
the
men
in
blue.

The
eighth-minute
opener
looked
easy
when
it
came
from
Foden,
City
passing
through
United
at
will,
Silva
with
the
centre
and
Foden
drifting
away
from
Christian
Eriksen
before
planting
his
left-footed
finish
high
past
David
De
Gea.

It
was
a
dereliction
of
defensive
duties
from
Eriksen,
unforgivable
on
derby
day.
His
deployment
in
a
central
defensive
midfield
role,
with
Casemiro
only
a
substitute,
immediately
looked
a
clanging
error
from
Erik
ten
Hag.

For
Foden,
it
was
his
first
goal
against
United
in
his
eighth
derby.

Grealish,
Ilkay
Gundogan,
De
Bruyne.
What
a
backing
band.
They
were
queueing
up
at
one
point
to
rain
shots
on
the
City
goal,
with
United
increasingly
desperate,
but
still
just
one
goal
behind
after
half
an
hour,
still
somehow
in
the
contest.
Marcus
Rashford,
by
this
stage,
had
taken
six
touches,
while
Haaland
had
City’s
fewest,
just
13.

Haaland’s
14th
touch
showed
the
Norwegian
at
his
most
magnificent,
using
his
physical
presence
to
shake
off
the
attentions
of
Eriksen,
an
improbable
marker,
and
meet
De
Bruyne’s
corner
from
the
left
with
a
mighty
header.

His
12th
Premier
League
goal
was
followed
moments
later
by
a
13th.
Haaland’s
16th
touch
of
the
game
was
as
deadly
as
the
14th,
with
De
Bruyne
again
teeing
him
up
with
a
delicious
pass
in
behind
Raphael
Varane
for
the
striker
to
poke
past
De
Gea.

Varane
went
off
injured,
probably
relieved
to
get
off
the
pitch,
with
Victor
Lindelof
tossed
into
the
lion’s
den.

17/10
–
In
Erling
Haaland
(17)
and
Kevin
De
Bruyne
(10),
Manchester
City
have
both
the
highest
scorer
and
highest
assister
in
Europe’s
big
five
leagues
in
all
competitions
this
season,
with
De
Bruyne
already
assisting
Haaland
five
times.
Demolition.

pic.twitter.com/jC5rCa2Q1y

—
OptaJoe
(@OptaJoe)

October
2,
2022

City’s
fourth
was
just
phenomenal,
De
Bruyne
feeding
Haaland
on
the
left
and
this
time
the
striker
turned
supplier,
a
delicious
ball
across
goal
turned
in
by
Foden
for
his
50th
goal
for
the
champions.

United
fans
streamed
out
of
the
stadium
before
half-time,
which
meant
they
missed
Antony’s
fine
strike
early
in
the
second
half.

They
missed
Haaland
and
Foden
sealing
their
hat-tricks
too,
Haaland
smashing
Sergio
Gomez’s
cross
past
De
Gea
before
Foden
drove
Haaland’s
pass
beyond
the
Spanish
goalkeeper.

Anthony
Martial
pulled
another
back,
and
then
scored
again
from
the
penalty
spot
to
cut
City’s
lead
to
6-3,
but
they
were
the
most
scant
of
consolations.

As
this
spurious
fightback
went
on,
Cristiano
Ronaldo
remained
rooted
to
the
United
bench,
an
unused
substitute.
An
afterthought.
Yesterday’s
man.

Haaland
has
as
many
Premier
League
hat-tricks
as
Ronaldo
already,
just
56
days
into
his
Premier
League
career.

You
can’t
always
get
what
you
want
on
derby
day.
City
and
Haaland,
their
swaggering
main
man,
could
hardly
have
asked
for
more,
though.