Blueprint to stopping Erling Haaland shouldn't worry Man City

"I can repeat a lot of things about Erling Haaland," said Serbia manager Dragan Stojkovic this week. "He is a fantastic player and he plays in one of the best teams in the world. It is difficult to stop him, but it is not impossible."

That was before Serbia's Nations League win over Norway, to earn promotion at the Norwegians' expense. In the process, Stojkovic became the first manager since May to stop Haaland scoring or assisting in a competitive game, ending Haaland's impressive run of 15 goals in ten games this season.

During his electric start to life at Manchester City, the question of how to stop Haaland has been growing. Stojkovic knew it was possible, and City may be interesting to see how Serbia managed to stop him.

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It seems part of their success was down to luck. Haaland had four shots and three on target. He was involved as much as he has been in games for City, getting 26 touches on the ball, although only six of those were in the opposition area. The statistics underline his pattern at City that while he doesn't get on the ball too often, he does something productive with it when he does.

Interestingly, Serbia held a high line against Norway, with their back three pushing up well outside of their own area and into the middle of their own half. Their wing-backs stayed wide, and their central midfielders pushed wide, too. In theory, that would give Haaland plenty of space to exploit, but perhaps their supporting players are not as dangerous as City's are, allowing Serbia to impose their own game more than adapt to defend against Haaland.

Haaland attempted no dribbles or key passes in the game, and was largely restricted to