Erling Haaland has said he will not dwell on missed chances as he prepares for his Premier League debut with Manchester City.
The Premier League champions begin their title defence at West Ham on Sunday, and spread further fear throughout the league when they sealed the signing of Haaland in June.
However, his debut in a City shirt did not go according to plan as he drew a blank in the 3-1 Community Shield defeat to Liverpool, including hitting the crossbar from point-blank range late on.
Speaking to former Newcastle United and England striker Alan Shearer for BBC Sport and The Athletic, the 22-year-old outlined his process as a goalscorer, and why he will not allow those misses to be carried into future games.
"As a striker, I think it's really important that when you're in the game to not think too much," Haaland said. "If I'm going to go into my next game thinking about the chance I missed last game, it's not good.
"You have to go into the game hungry. It doesn't matter what happened before, if you scored three goals, if you scored zero goals, if you haven't scored in a while. You have to go into the game with the same mentality. And so I think about not thinking too much about it."
Haaland scored 86 goals in 89 games in two-and-a-half years at Borussia Dortmund, but admitted there is extra pressure that comes with playing for City, who have won four of the last five Premier League titles, including pipping Liverpool by one point last season.
"Yes, of course it's pressure," he said. "I'm playing for the champions... so there's pressure, but in my head, it's about trying to go out on the pitch smiling as much as I can and to try to enjoy the game. Because life goes fast and suddenly my career is over.
"You saw that with my father (who retired aged 30 due to injury), suddenly it's over. So it's about trying to enjoy every single minute of it because I'm really lucky to have this job and to be here.
"In the end, we just want to enjoy playing football, enjoy what our childhood dream was. There will be people talking about you, especially as a striker if you don't score, then the talk comes, but in the end you cannot choose what people say, what people read, what people think about you.
"This is something you just have to live with. And yeah, I kind of enjoy it."
Haaland also outlined his early impressions of working with Pep Guardiola, who has won four Premier League titles, four EFL Cups and an FA Cup since arriving as manager in 2016.
"He's demanding in his messages about what to do and about doing everything at 100 per cent," he added. "It doesn't matter if it's a normal kind of running exercise, do it at 100 per cent, like you do it on the pitch. Train as you play. Easy as that."
The imposing striker is hoping to bring something extra to City, who were eliminated from the Champions League in agonising fashion by eventual winners Real Madrid in the semi-finals last season.
"We come as champions from last year, so we have to do the same kind of things they did and hopefully even better," Haaland said.
"In the important games be even better, the Champions League and the cups, and also to maintain all the time in the Premier League.
"It's not easy as we know. It's a difficult league, so many good teams, but it's about building on what they have been having here for so many years.
"I want to come in here and bring my own kind of things to the game and hopefully be better."
Man Utd appoint Jason Wilcox as new technical director after leaving Southampton
Jason Wilcox has left Southampton to become Manchester United’s new technical director with immediate effect.
The 53-year-old becomes a key appointment at Old Trafford as part of United’s off-field overhaul following Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival at the club.
Wilcox joined Championship side Southampton last summer as their director of football, making the switch from Manchester City where he developed a reputation for nurturing excellent young talent as well as recruiting some of the best prospects in the game.
A United statement read: “Jason Wilcox has joined Manchester United as technical director with immediate effect.
“He will work with all technical areas of the football department to achieve the highest standards of performance.
“Jason was previously director of football at Southampton and before that academy director at Manchester City.
“As a player he won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers in 1995.”
A Saints statement read: “Southampton Football Club can today confirm that it has reluctantly agreed to allow director of football Jason Wilcox to join Manchester United, having reached an agreement with the Premier League side on an acceptable compensation fee.
“Whilst the club is naturally disappointed that Jason’s stay at Southampton has only lasted nine months, it wishes him well for the future.”
John Murtough stepped down as football director at Old Trafford last week.
United are looking to add Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth to their staff as Ratcliffe continues his off-field rebuild after taking a 27.7 per cent stake in the club.
Wilcox will report to the sporting director, who will have overall responsibility for football performance, recruitment and operations.
The PA news agency understands Darren Fletcher will continue to play a key role in the football leadership team working across the men’s first team and academy.
Jack Grealish: FA Cup semi-final the perfect game to ‘put right’ European exit
Jack Grealish believes Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea gives Manchester City the perfect opportunity to put their Champions League agony behind them.
City’s hopes of successfully defending their European crown – and winning a second successive treble – were shattered on Wednesday as they were beaten by Real Madrid on penalties.
The defeat was particularly galling given that City had dominated the second leg of the quarter-final tie at the Etihad Stadium, but they have little time to dwell on their misfortune.
Attention has immediately shifted to Wembley and a key clash in City’s bid to retain one of the other two trophies they won in glorious fashion last season.
Midfielder Grealish said: “We’ve not been used to losing, especially in the last couple of years. We always knew it was going to be a tough game against one of the best teams in the world.
“It went down to penalties and it’s never nice to go out on penalties. Luckily enough for us we’ve got another game within three days where we can go and put it right.
“Sometimes it’s better when it’s like that. It’s better when you can put it right straight away rather than waiting and dwelling on it for a couple of weeks.
“It’s the perfect game for us to put it right.”
As well as being favourites for the FA Cup, City have put themselves in a strong position to win the Premier League for a fourth year in succession and a sixth time in seven years.
Grealish said: “This year, if we win the Premier League and the FA Cup it would be a hugely successful season. Hopefully we can go on and do that and that’s our aim.”
It has been a frustrating campaign in a personal sense for Grealish, although he has regained form and his place in the side in recent games.
The 28-year-old England international, who excelled in the treble-winning season, struggled to find consistency after an injury in the autumn and was then hindered by further fitness issues.
“It’s been difficult,” he said. “Especially on the back of last year, I had such a good season.
“At the moment, I feel good and I feel confident. At the start of the season, I don’t know, I just didn’t feel like I was playing well really. I didn’t really feel that fit if I’m honest.
“But I feel good now. I feel fit and I feel like I’m playing with good confidence. Hopefully I can bring that into the end of the season.
“We’ve still got a lot to play for. The season is nowhere near over yet. I still feel like I’ve got a big part to play.”
Grealish spoke recently about his determination to repay manager Pep Guardiola for guiding him through his difficult spell and he remains keen to deliver for the City boss.
He said: “I’ve got a really good relationship with him. I’ve said before that he’s the best manager in the world, in my opinion.
“I’ve had my own problems, even off the pitch, and he’s always spoken to me and been there for me.
“Hopefully, I can help him and he can help me towards the end of the season.”
Cole Palmer has nothing to prove to City, says Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino believes Cole Palmer will go into Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City on Saturday with nothing to prove to his former employers, insisting he is the right manager to help the 21-year-old continue his stunning ascendancy.
Palmer, who left Chelsea’s Wembley opponents in a £42.5million deal in the summer, is joint top scorer in the Premier League after his four goals in Monday’s 6-0 demolition of Everton moved him level with City’s Erling Haaland on 20 for the season.
He has netted an incredible seven times in the team’s last two home games, including a hat-trick in the breathless 4-3 win over Manchester United when two of his goals came in the 10th and 11th minutes of stoppage time.
He previously scored from the penalty spot in the fifth minute of added time to snatch a point in a 4-4 draw when City visited west London in November.
Palmer has previously stated his decision to leave the champions – for whom he scored twice in August in the Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup – was based on the belief he would get more first-team game time at Chelsea.
That decision has been thoroughly vindicated, with his performances for Mauricio Pochettino’s frustratingly inconsistent side placing him in the reckoning for the PFA Player of the Year award.
His odds on winning the award have been slashed by as much as half with some bookmakers since his Everton haul.
But his manager said there was no possibility the England international would face City with an axe to grind.
“It’s his first consistent season playing, we need to be careful because he’s still young, he’s growing,” said Pochettino.
“He’s already played twice (against City) in the Premier League. He’s very grateful for Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola. He always talks very highly of them.
“He’s not the type of player that has something inside (to prove). He understood perfectly that for different reasons he wanted to prove himself in another club.
“He’s not the type of person to wants to prove something against his former club.”
Prior to joining Chelsea, Palmer had played only 19 senior league games spread over three seasons, and had not scored in the Premier League.
Yet he is now a genuine contender to deprive his former team-mate Haaland of the Golden Boot won by the Norwegian last season.
There is also the growing prospect of his being selected in Gareth Southgate’s squad for Euro 2024 in Germany this summer.
“He has to absorb the pressure to play in the Premier League consistently,” said Pochettino, who previously enjoyed success at Tottenham stewarding young talents though their early years, including England captain Harry Kane.
“It’s about the demands in his private life. He is top scorer. He maybe needs to pay attention to different things than before. That’s going to have an influence on how he is going to prepare himself, how he’s going to rest and going to sleep, how he spends his energy.
“We need to be careful. We have the experience to manage this type of thing, when a young kid becomes a big star. Why is he not performing in a few months? Because his life has changed. He needs to learn from this experience that is completely different to the past.”
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