Manchester City are getting a brief taste of what life would be like without Erling Haaland during their pre-season tour of Asia.
Since Erling Haaland’s arrival in 2022, Manchester City have not needed to fear where goals would come from. The Norwegian sensation enters his fifth season at the Etihad Stadium next week and so far he has not scored fewer than 31 goals in a single campaign.
Such is his talent, even the great Pep Guardiola admitted he needed to adapt his style to accommodate Haaland. “We know his quality. We cannot play a false nine with him and we have to adapt some movements,” the City boss explained in 2023. “He has to get the balls delivered as much as possible. We have fantastic players around him but the first goal is because he is there and the delivery from Kevin [de Bruyne] is fantastic.”
But even with a modern-day great leading the line, Guardiola was aware of the importance of everyone at City pulling their weight. After Haaland bagged a brace to beat Everton in October, the City head coach said: “He [Haaland] could have scored four or five at the end. He’s our key man.
“At the same time, we cannot do good things with just Erling. Our wingers, attacking midfielders and the other players have to make a step up.”
This summer, the onus has been on other players to show their worth. Haaland’s run to the World Cup quarter-finals with Norway ensured he missed this year’s trip to Hong Kong and South Korea. While results and goals are not really important during pre-season, new boss Enzo Maresca wants to see how his players react in the striker’s absence.
Stepping up to the plate has been Antoine Semenyo. City’s January signing from Bournemouth went to the World Cup but, unlike Haaland, he struggled.
Upon his return to Manchester, the 26-year-old received his new instructions from Maresca and has since flourished. “I reported a little bit later than some of the boys and I’ve had individual meetings with him on how he wants to set up, how he wants to play, his wide men, and just overall as a team,” Semenyo explained in Hong Kong last week.
“It’s been good so far. I think his ideas are great – quite similar to Pep. When he got appointed, that was the first thing I thought about because when I’ve played Chelsea previously when he was there, his wide men were always high and wide and quite free. That was one of the things that excited me the most when he got appointed and it’s exciting for me as a winger. I get to have 1v1 situations most of the game and I’m looking forward to it.”
In the two matches against Inter Milan and the K-League All Stars, we have seen Semenyo torment defenders with his direct runs and physicality.
Divin Mubama scored the only goal from open play against Inter, but it was all about Semenyo in the build-up. He was the one who worked the opening and his drilled, low cross was begging to be tapped in by the youngster.
On Wednesday, the forward had a hand in two of City’s three goals against the K-League All Stars. Semenyo’s awareness to back heel the ball to Tijjani Reijnders brought back memories of his fantastic FA Cup-winning goal against Chelsea. He then did superbly to cut inside from the right, fire a shot towards goal that was spilt and eventually tapped in by Mubama.
His energy down both the left and right has been one of the main positives of this tour. The evolution of City’s tactics has not gone unnoticed by Nico Gonzalez. “I think it is clear that we try to arrive to the wingers,” the midfielder told City’s in-house media following the win in Seoul. We have a lot of quality with the wingers so they can go one v one all the time.”
Next week, Haaland returns to City as the squad arrive back from Asia. With little more than two weeks remaining before the Premier League restarts, Blues fans will be hopeful the Norwegian is fresh and ready to hit the ground running.
But if he does need time to find his feet, Semenyo’s hot form in pre-season suggests he is primed to share the weight of expectation with Haaland this year.
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