Erling Haaland offers a different route to Man City perfection for Pep Guardiola

Erling Haaland will admit himself that he is not the typical Pep Guardiola player in a way that, say, Julian Alvarez appears to be. Where the Manchester City manager is associated with false nines and diminutive dynamos dancing their way around a pitch, Haaland has come to resemble a wrecking ball of a footballer that smashes in goals from any situation.

That has led to the debate around how Guardiola and his new No.9 can get the best out of each other - much of it relevant - and who will have to adapt to who. It also caused their differences to be highlighted after Haaland missed a sitter in the Community Shield defeat to Liverpool, with the stats working to fit the narrative that he had looked like a fish out of water; completed passes and touches were used to show the gap between what Haaland is and what he needs to be.

Except, while the Norwegian wants to learn more of the centre-forward play that Guardiola demands he is also keen to showcase the qualities that earned him his £51m this summer at the age of just 21. And having beaten European heavyweights to sign him, City know better than to misuse the No.9; there is no point, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic famously said after falling out with the manager at Barcelona, to drive a Ferrari like a Fiat.

Also read: Kevin De Bruyne issues Man City warning after Erling Haaland brace

Lo and behold, Haaland's touches were again low against West Ham - the lowest of the starting XI with 32 (Ederson had 46) . The touches that he did have, however, were enough to give Guardiola control of the game in a way that few forwards could have done.

Haaland only needed one tough against Liverpool to have a critical role in City's goal last week, and three touches at the London Stadium brought