Jamie Redknapp lept to the defence of one Manchester City player last night, after he came in for some criticism recently.
City beat Wolves 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium to keep the pressure on league leaders Arsenal, who had beaten Bournemouth earlier in the day.
Erling Haaland scored five goals, with Julian Alvarez adding a fifth late on. Hwang Hee-chan grabbed what turned out to be a mere consultation for the visitors.
It was a ruthless display from City, and Haaland in particular, with the Wolves centre-backs having real trouble containing him throughout.
Haaland took his tally to 25 Premier League goals for the season, and it’s likely he will now win a second Golden Boot.
After the game last night, Redknapp commented on Haaland and made his feelings clear that the recent criticism of him has been ridiculous.
Jamie Redknapp says Erling Haaland is ‘built differently’ as he defends the Man City star after recent criticism
Haaland scored against Nottingham Forest last weekend and after that goal went in, you just got the sense that he was hungry for a lot more.
He was brilliant against the Reds, and against Wolves he was bang at it.
His header from Rodri’s fantastic cross was magnificent, and his fourth goal when he was played in by Phil Foden was even better.
The star has come in for criticism recently for lacking influence and for not scoring at his usual rate.
But after his masterclass against Wolves, Sky Sports pundit Redknapp said: “He’s an animal. The guy is an animal in front of goal. The mentality he has… you could see he scored four goals today and he was furious that he’d come off. He was fuming, he wanted to score more goals.
“This guy is built differently. He is a phenomenon and to have him in our league… I just love watching him.
“He wants to destroy teams. I think it’s very easy to say what he can’t do. He has given City a difference. When people criticise him I do find it really hard to understand sometimes.”
One of Haaland’s critics has been Roy Keane, who recently said that his standard of general play was that of a League Two player.
The striker said brilliantly after yesterday’s game that he did not care for ‘that man’ and his opinions.
Haaland criticism is absurd
Fair play to Redknapp here, because the criticism of Haaland is pretty ridiculous.
He has now scored 33 goals this season, after hitting 52 in his first campaign, which ended in a Treble.
It is remarkable to think that anyone can speak badly of him. Yes, he misses the odd chance and yes there are sometimes games where he doesn’t have an impact.
But these games are few and far between. Haaland, as Redknapp says, is built differently than pretty much every other striker in the game today.
He has an insatiable appetite for scoring goals, which was evident in his reaction to being taken off yesterday by Pep.