Erling Haaland scores twice as the Man City juggernaut cruises past Burnley at Turf Moor
Burnley 0-3 Manchester City (Haaland 4′, 36′, Rodri 75′)
TURF MOOR — Thank goodness for the return of the Premier League to punctuate the gauche giddiness of the increasingly absurd transfer window.
After a long day of private planes to Bavaria, pitched battles for £110million midfielders and players going on strike, there was something reassuring about Erling Haaland‘s inevitability and the sight of a bristling Pep Guardiola squaring up to a Sky Sports camera as he stomped off at half-time raging about some minor imperfection in the game of his irresistible number nine.
Football is back and so, too, is the sky blue juggernaut. A few sizeable notches below their best, and displaying signs of the sloppiness Guardiola had predicted from a team fatigued by last season’s historic efforts, they still had far too much for a spirited Burnley side that showed signs of sophistication and played with no shortage of ambition.
You suspect the chastened Clarets will be alright, even if there was a disarming naivety about some of their defending given the quality of the opposition.
Vincent Kompany‘s hard reset at Turf Moor is one of the more intriguing footnotes of this Premier League season and on the basis of their summer recruitment and fluency they look the best equipped of the promoted sides to survive. Five of their summer signings were handed debuts on the opening day and all provided varying levels of encouragement for the campaign ahead.
It felt an enterprising enough first gambit from Burnley and Swiss striker Zeki Amdouni looks a find. But you suspect goals may be an increasingly pressing issue when the early season adrenaline evaporates.
It will be some consolation to Kompany’s back four that they will not meet a forward as ruthless as Haaland very often this season. His finishing here was simply sublime, back to the frightening levels that saw him briefly threaten to topple Dixie Dean’s record last season.
Haaland was barely involved for long spells but it didn’t matter much. He took just three minutes to shake off the rustiness of the Community Shield to sweep home after Rodri’s cute knockdown.
An uncharacteristic run of just one goal in eight games as City hit the home strait in their treble win had provided some food for thought at the back end of last season. But his second goal shortly after the half hour mark, just as Burnley were gaining momentum, should answer any questions about whether his aura remains.
Julian Alvarez’s pass was nice but Haaland’s sweeping finish, executed without even looking in the direction of the goal, was nothing short of a masterpiece. Eight touches, two goals – no one can do it quite like Haaland. By now he all know his alchemy lies in his positioning, the Norwegian’s radar so attuned that it sometimes feels like he’s playing in the Premier League with a cheat code.
Guardiola made a beeline for Haaland at half-time, clearly agitated by something he’d seen. Only the Premier League’s arch-perfectionist could find fault with his star striker scoring two goals without breaking sweat but in truth the Catalan cut an exasperated figure throughout.
No doubt his mood was darkened by an early injury to Kevin De Bruyne, still City’s creator-in-chief. After some typically bright touches he broke down after just 22 minutes, replaced by summer signing Mateo Kovacic. Given De Bruyne’s injury issues last season that has the potential to cause a huge headache for Guardiola.
Perhaps stung by their manager’s frustration, City reasserted their control in the second half and Burnley’s insistence on playing out from the back offered up opportunities to the European champions. They are not the sort of team to pass them up.
All hope was extinguised when a third goal arrived from Rodri, now an even more pivotal figure given the departure of Ilkay Gundogan. His stinging finish from close range gave the scoreline a slightly uneven feel. Anass Zaroury’s late red card for a high challenge on Kyle Walker, flagged up by a VAR call, summed up Burnley’s second half frustration.
For the Clarets there is work to do. Set pieces were their Achilles heel in the Championship but it rarely mattered as they steamrollered lesser opposition. Twice they conceded directly from them here and it is an issue Kompany must address immediately if his team are to avoid more humblings like this.
