Rodri is right to say Erling Haaland and Man City need time to adapt to each other

You don't have to be a football expert to know that there are quite a few people out there with egg on their faces thanks to Erling Haaland.

The Manchester City striker has loudly gone about silencing those who questioned his move to the Etihad Stadium. Once it was announced that City had triggered the £51m release clause in Haaland's Borussia Dortmund contract, sceptics started insisting that club and player were not a good fit, that the 22-year-old lacks the on-the-ball quality to play in a Pep Guardiola team and that City wouldn't know how to utilise his unique skillset.

Evidently, they were wrong. Six goals in four Premier League games - including a hat-trick in his second home appearance - does not scream of a player struggling to fit into new surroundings.

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However, goals do not tell the whole story. Haaland has also allied fears about his passing and playmaking abilities - he provided a great assist in the 4-0 defeat of Bournemouth a couple of weeks ago, and against Newcastle his off-the-ball movements and occasional drops of the front-line created space of others to run into.

Even in the first half of Saturday's 4-2 defeat of Crystal Palace - a frustrating 45 minutes that saw City fall two goals behind - the benefits his presence brings were clear.

City set about creating chances through the half-spaces by pinning Palace's wing-backs with their wingers and with Haaland occupying the attentions of the middle centre-back (often Joachim Andersen).

The approach worked well up until a point but the final execution was missing, so the gaps that appeared went unexploited. After Palace scored their second City tried to force things,