Erling Haaland can just stand there and watch – and at the same time do his job for Man City

“Pep won't like it when I say this, but they don't need me,” said Erling Haaland. “I can just stand there and watch.”

Of course there was context too, the most important being the fact that he had scored Manchester City's first goal in their 2-0 away win over Chelsea on the opening weekend. They really needed him for that.

The rest of the context is that the striker was talking about City's overall build-up play and how he fits in. Or not. “When you see all the defenders, how well they played against the midfielders, it looked like Pep didn't like me for that…” and continued with the unflattering description of his overall game.

But there was more.

“I want to be more involved, that's what Pep wants,” Haaland added in a post-match interview with Sky Sports, the game's British broadcaster. “But do I really need to be more involved in games like this? That's the million dollar question.”

This was in many ways a classic Haaland performance. Deadly finish, three successful passes in the 90 minutes, going home happy.

One of those passes was when he appeared in the corner in front of the travelling City fans in the final moments and helped his team finish the game after Mateo Kovacic had sealed it with his second goal in the 84th minute.

This is Haaland's third season at City and his place in the team is not uncertain: when he's fit, he plays and you can't say he wouldn't fit in the team. Are they playing better football now than before he moved? Not really, but they must be more effective because the trophies – especially the treble in his debut season – speak for themselves.

But something about the whole thing makes it look like it's not working, even when it's obviously working, which was the case again at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Not only did Haaland score the first goal by having just the right number of touches before making a clever finish, but he probably should have set up another goal, only to somehow get a foul against him.

But how can you complete three passes in an entire game with this team on a day when City had much less control than usual and still play such a big part in a winning performance?

“I want to help the team and make sure the team works on getting the players into good positions,” Haaland continued. “To give my teammates an extra metre. If I can take the centre-backs apart with one run, it's difficult, but it's my job.”

Haaland scored his goal against Chelsea on Sunday (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

These runs certainly add an extra dimension to Pep Guardiola's Premier League winners, especially because opponents know they have to react when he makes them. Haaland can't play one-on-one with most defenders in the league, so teams adapt to the threat he might pose, not to mention what he actually does. That will never change, so even on his worst day he will always contribute.

“He didn't have many touches, but if he did, it was most likely a goal,” Chelsea defender Levi Colwill told US broadcaster NBC after the game about Haaland. “You have to be focused around the penalty area, that's his area. If the ball goes wide, you have to know where it is. He's a very good player and there's a lot to do. Good players create chances like he did today.”

Had Chelsea taken their chances, Haaland's three completed passes might have been judged differently – “He scored a goal, but is he doing enough?” The number of times he touched the ball in a given game has been added up countless times, usually when he was not very involved or City were unable to win.

Maybe he benefited from different circumstances yesterday, but we are now well beyond small sample territory. Usually he scores, sometimes he doesn't, sometimes he touches the ball, often he doesn't, but the end result is City almost always win.

And he does more than just stand there and watch.

With his goal on Sunday, he has scored 91 goals in 100 games for City. “That's a number of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo,” said Guardiola. “Number wise, he's on their level.” At the risk of putting words in Guardiola's mouth, there is one important difference: “Number wise,” Haaland is Is on the same level as those two, but not nearly as effective at influencing games in other ways.

This seems to be perfectly fine and brings us back to the million dollar question.

Last season there were headlines about Haaland being a “League Two player” in terms of his passing play, which is clearly not the case as he showed a much higher level in his first season, but he struggled in his second year and didn't look any sharper in pre-season this summer.

When he came forward to collect the ball on Sunday, his pass could not be completed because Colwill ran behind him and cleared the way for him.

Haaland has rarely been involved in the game, although that was probably planned given the few opportunities he has actually been involved in. Even when he is not running in behind, he can simply stand with the centre-backs, keeping them busy and creating space in midfield for others to play.

City have plenty of players who can handle this well, so the centre-forward can afford to just watch and do his job at the same time.

(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)