Haaland made the move from Dortmund in the summer of 2022. This left people wondering will he be able to fit Manchester city’s style of play. He has replied to the criticisms by scoring an incredible 25 league goals in 21 games. He has become one of the world’s elite strikers, so as a student of the game you can learn a lot about the Norwegian. To be a top striker there are three main traits that you can take on board to perfect the striker role which includes:

• Finishing
• Attack positioning
• Linking play

Finishing
This is vital as a central striker, you are usually the furthest player up the pitch so you will get plenty of chances of a shot on goal. As a striker you will aim for the corners of the goal, this can either be the bottom corner or the top corner. You tend to find strikers like Haaland primarily finish in the bottom corner with power. This is because it is hard for the keepers to get down so quickly. However, in certain situations top corner finishes are just as important, this is more likely if you are further out from the goal.
Haaland often runs in behind to create a one and one situation with the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper will try and rush out the net to close down the angle, this is why you will want impressive finishing to get your desired goal. Having a strong weak foot will also improve your chances of scoring, being able to score with both feet gives you huge opportunities. A defender will not know which way you will go which makes it harder for them to defend. Sometimes an opportunity will land on your weak foot and you won’t have time to put it onto your stronger side, this is why you will want to be strong with both.
With it being left foot or right foot you will want to practise all sorts of finishes. You can perfect your finishing with our football flick top corner equipment.

Attack Positioning
Erling Haaland is one of the best strikers in the world at being in the ‘right place at the right time’. When looking at his goals a lot of them come from being correctly positioned to slot the ball past the opposing keeper. Below is a video to show the type of goals he scores.

At 0.40 seconds this epitomises the saying ‘right place at the right time’. If you can position yourself in the centre of the box you always have a chance of the ball landing at your feet. There is slightly more skill to just positioning yourself in the right area. You also have to have quick reactions so you beat the opposing player to the ball. You will need composure and balance so you can finish to the best of your ability. If you are positioned correctly and mix that with a cool head and good first-time finishing you are almost guaranteed goals. As much as you will love a long-range goal, there are plenty of ‘easy’ goals that can be just as important!

Linking play
When linking play, there is one player who stands out from the rest and that is Harry Kane. In recent years he has revolutionised the role of a striker by dropping deep and linking play up for his fellow teammates which are pivotal for his team.

The video above shows the elite side of linking play. Harry Kane is just an example of the type of play you can do as a striker to involve your teammates. Harry Kane’s linking-up play is so vital for club and country because it gives the opportunity for fellow attackers to make runs in behind. So effectively a lot of the time teams rely on players like Harry Kane to link up the whole attack. Hold-up play could be much more simple, some strikers will simply hold the ball up for fellow teammates to get up the pitch then you can lay the ball off. In some moments in a match, your team might be under pressure so this is a very key skill to possess, your teammates will be very thankful.