Last year, a bonsai tree stood in the physio room at Manchester City’s training ground, the centerpiece of an area that became a hub for Pep Guardiola’s players. It can get quite busy there and most of the crew made sure to water their little seedling as they walked through.
“Erling’s idea,” John Stones grins. Given what we know about Erling Haaland – the dedication to meditation and a Zen approach to life – bringing in that Japanese tree feels entirely appropriate. As City stormed towards the Treble, the bonsai gave them a common goal off the grass.
“Everyone bought into it, everyone cared about it,” Stones adds. “It became a given that if you came in and didn’t water it, you got a little mad at yourself.”
It’s all arms and legs, the bonsai. A bit like its owner. “I have some kind of responsibility for it,” Haaland says. ‘Give it what it needs, feed it. It needs the right light. We get the energy from the bonsai tree. We drag the energy out and it breathes into the body. It brings us luck.’
Unconsciously, Haaland is describing himself. Describes what he is to this City team. A bonsai needs an exact environment to thrive in, and so does the man who wears number 9 for the best side of the world. Neither of them require much maintenance, but they do require something. Whether he gets that regular supply, little and often, is up for debate and if that dries up, someone like Roy Keane will gleefully comment disingenuously on how Haaland resembles a League Two striker.
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“His overall play for a player like that is so poor,” Keane said after the goalless draw against Arsenal, where Haaland was reduced to 23 touches. ‘He has to improve that, he is almost a League Two player.’
Given his long history with the Haaland family, Keane’s comments felt somewhat performative. He, like all of us, had witnessed Haaland being swamped by two of the continent’s best centre-backs in a system far removed from Mikel Arteta’s usual philosophy. City had little space to work between the back four and midfield, no alleys to drive through. Haaland occupied both William Saliba and Gabriel in a way that could have allowed others to take charge elsewhere, but Declan Rice did so manfully.
City face this kind of entrenched defense every week at the Etihad Stadium, but with the worst back line in the division, Arsenal’s ability to keep teams at bay is significantly greater than the likes of Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Everton, all of whom are admirable performed on the field. the day, but ultimately lost while conceding a few. Haaland scored all three goals; taking action against him once could be terminal.
However, Haaland will be well aware of his recent Premier League form. He is still top scorer, but only four goals in his last eleven games (two of which were against Everton) and the Norwegian recently admitted that he is wasting too many chances. “I will probably miss a big opportunity in the future too, and people will criticize me,” he said after the glaring miss in last month’s Manchester derby. ‘But what can I do? Should I think about that?
‘It’s with everything in life: if you think about something, it’s not good, if there’s stress in your life, it’s not good. It’s a mental issue, it’s something I’ve been working on.”
The bonsai – a story told in the new Netflix documentary about Manchester City, Together, released on Tuesday – was likely a relaxation method within the working environment. As a child, Haaland would cry when his teams lost, but today he is easy-going. He’s feeling better, even though some experts who should know better can’t understand why someone as tall as a barn could occasionally mess up his feet in a split second. It’s a long way from brain to toes.
And Haaland is City this season. Good without exploding yet, derailed by injury – like quite a few others – and a bit of a victim of last year. “Just because your name is Haaland, everyone thinks you score five points every game,” a source said recently.
They’re right and when he doesn’t, people start looking for reasons. He doesn’t connect the game well enough, well, that’s improved from last season. He can’t handle it, well, actually he won five aerial duels on Sunday, two more than Saliba and Gabriel combined. Six assists so far matches the nine he registered in his debut season.
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Haaland faced a difficult challenge against Arsenal’s defense but still created space for others
What Guardiola will want more of is the intensity with which he puts pressure on defenders out of possession. It was a hallmark of City’s false nine era, and there is acceptance of how that changes with a giant man up front, but there are improvements to be made in that area. Haaland admits this himself. He won the ball back 16 times in the final third, eight fewer than Julian Alvarez. More than Darwin Nunez and the same as Rasmus Hojlund.
He’s 23, he’s obviously going to get smarter in that area of his game. And here’s the give and take. Did City’s makers do enough to find Haaland on Sunday?
How many of the 31 crosses were tasty for the Norwegian to attack? As much as he would love to give more when City don’t have the ball, they are built to not need his services until the very last minute.
Haaland did not get enough service in the draw against Arsenal and was left frustrated
The striker won five aerial matches against Arsenal, but needs to show more intensity from the ball
So when he is followed by two centre-backs, it is up to others to weave through in a way that Ilkay Gundogan did so successfully in his later years. When a midfielder takes matters into his own hands against Arsenal, as Gundogan so often did, no one talks about Haaland and the fourth division.
This is now Guardiola’s challenge: to raise their level from good to champion. Given all the tactical mastery, Guardiola’s man management is often overlooked, but there were plenty of moments last year when he inspired his players to greatness. After the league hit them with an unprecedented number of charges for alleged financial breaches, Guardiola delivered one of his all-time team talks.
“Support me unconditionally,” he demanded with a crazy look in his eyes. ‘I want this Premier League title more than ever. Everything we’ve won has always been on the field. I like the club. I love you too. I want my warriors.”
They defeated Aston Villa 3-1. Then they won everything. So fighters, while Guardiola now needs gardeners. The bonsai has become a bit dry.
The Netflix documentary Together: Treble Winners can be streamed on April 2 from 8 a.m