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25th Mar 2024

Erling Haaland admits he’s gone his whole career without knowing simple football rule

Callum Boyle

Still managed to do pretty well

Erling Haaland has revealed that there is one basic football rule that he is yet to understand in his professional career.

Haaland has had a pretty incredible time as a pro so far and has 18 goals in 23 Premier League appearances for Manchester City as they go in search of a back-to-back Treble.

During a sit-down interview with his club, Haaland opened up on an array of topics including things that “annoy him” and the parts of his game he can improve. When it came to discussing one of the areas of the modern game he has a gripe with, the forward discussed the concept of throw-ins.

The forward believes that too many teams use underhand tactics such as “stealing” too many metres and called for goal line technology across all of the pitch.

“The first is to introduce goal line technology all over the pitch, so that you always know when the ball is out of play.”

It was at this point that Haaland confessed that he doesn’t actually know the rules when it comes to throw-ins. He said:

“What annoys me is throw-ins. If you throw this way or that way, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you have two hands on the ball.

“I don’t even know the rules, and if I’m going to make a throw, I’ll probably do it wrong. But it doesn’t matter if you throw the ball straight down, straight up or whatever. I would change that.

“We will see what happens in the future but you need a certain time limit to take throw-ins and you cannot take too many metres – just give a mark and you can only go there.”

Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland wants to improve

Despite establishing himself as one of the world’s elite strikers but the Norway international still wants to improve after scoring 52 goals in 53 games.

“There’s loads of things to still improve,” he admitted. “When you play so many games, it’s difficult to train because you have to get ready and do the stuff that gets you fit for the next game.

“I want to become even better with the team, to be more solid with the team and to perform in the biggest games.

“And I want to recreate the things we did last season.”

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