According to The Athletic, Haaland immediately questioned the linesman after his goal was ruled offside in the Manchester Derby, asking: "Am I offside?" Ultimately, the goal was allowed to stand, and statistics confirm the rare ability of the Norwegian striker to stay onside – in three and a half years since joining Manchester City, he has been offside only 18 times in the Premier League.

In last Sunday's Manchester Derby, Haaland's winning goal was initially flagged offside by the linesman, and he immediately questioned the decision: "Am I offside?" The goal ultimately stood because Haaland was indeed onside – though Professional Game Match Officials Limited later acknowledged that the referee missed teammate Enzo Fernández, who was interfering with play from an offside position several meters to the left. By then, Manchester City had already secured a 1-0 victory, and Haaland had scored the decisive goal once again.

"I'm usually not offside, so I spoke with referee Michael Oliver and he thought I was offside, so I was a bit offended," Haaland told Sky Sports after the match. "But I looked at Enzo [Maresca], the manager, and he gave me a thumbs up, so I knew the goal would count and I was just about ready to celebrate."

Since Haaland joined Manchester City in 2022, 43 Premier League players have been offside more frequently than him, and only four of those 43 have played more minutes. On a per-90-minute basis, 93 players have been offside more than the Norwegian over the past four years.

On Sunday, Jan Aage Fjørtoft, a former Norwegian striker and Premier League player now broadcasting for Viaplay, asked Haaland about his rare offsides. Haaland casually replied: "No, I thought it was a deflection, so I thought maybe someone touched it or something, I'm not sure." He then went on to discuss Maresca's signal from the bench.

This topic also came up last season after his goal against Bournemouth, when he referenced some statistics. "It's not my first season being rarely offside," he said. "I think it started when I was 13 years old. I try to stay onside. Since coming to Manchester City, I've been offside 18 times – 18 times in three and a half years is pretty good."

"It's part of my game: I hate being offside. If there's VAR, you don't have a chance if you're offside. I think VAR helps me more, because the decisions are clear – it's that simple. If it's a marginal offside situation, I'm probably not offside. This is something I've practiced since I was 13 years old at Bryne, and I still play the same way now... except now I'm faster, better, and more explosive."

He even mentioned his ability to stay onside during his first preseason after joining Manchester City in 2022. "I've thought about this my whole life, timing my runs perfectly behind the defense," he said. "My dad and I have discussed it a lot, and when VAR was introduced, it only benefited me, because the facts are there – I'm almost never offside."

If he thought he was rarely offside back then, he certainly knows he's doing even better now, because his offside rate at his former club Borussia Dortmund was much higher at 0.55 per 90 minutes, compared to just 0.2 at Manchester City. He was also not offside in any of his five appearances for his national team at the World Cup last summer.

To put his Premier League record in context: many players ahead of him not only have fewer appearances but some have also left the Premier League for a spell, like Vardy and Ivan Toney, or have at least missed a season, like Marcus Rashford.

The list of players with more offsides per 90 minutes also includes several left-backs, including Riccardo Calafiori, Andy Robertson, and Pervis Estupiñán. Given their attacking responsibilities, this might be understandable, but it remains a remarkable statistic. Another example is Bruno Fernandes, who is more likely to play the ball backwards than to make forward runs.

During Haaland's time at Manchester City, there has been debate about whether he fits with the playing style of former manager Pep Guardiola. In his first season, former Liverpool defender and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher highlighted the difference in his style from his time in Germany at Dortmund. "You think about his first goal this season against West Ham, there's space behind and he made that run," said Carragher, referring to the August 2022 match. "I know that because of Manchester City's playing style, those situations don't happen often, but he came from Dortmund, where it's a counterattacking league, and the game is much more open, and you can see his incredible pace. We don't see that now."

Such discussions continued last season. Manchester City adopted a more open style early in the season, and Haaland had plenty of opportunities to face goal directly, but in the second half of the season, the team tightened their play, reducing the number of runs he could make behind the defense. Nevertheless, it cannot be said that Haaland has avoided offside over the past four years because he doesn't make such runs.

According to data tracking company SkillCorner, since 2022, Haaland has made 9.5 runs behind the defense per game in the Premier League, a statistic surpassed by only four players in that period: Jackson (12.7), Darwin Núñez (12.2), Ollie Watkins (11.3), and Benjamin Šesko (11.0).

As he has demonstrated, the VAR technology introduced in the Premier League in 2019 leaves no room for players to hide – in fact, if Haaland had been slightly further forward on Sunday, the controversy surrounding Fernández would not have existed at all.

Growing up, Haaland was not as tall and strong as he is now, which meant he needed to gain an advantage over much stronger defenders in other ways, such as his positioning in the box and his timing of his runs. His youth coach at his hometown club Bryne pulled him aside when he was a teenager and explained to him various things he needed to focus on if he wanted to reach the highest level, such as the importance of quality sleep and nutrition, as well as his behavior on the pitch. Young Haaland applied this as much as possible.

Those coaches expected him to grow at that time, since both his parents are athletes – his father was a professional football player and his mother was a heptathlete – and his older brother had also grown significantly a few years earlier. The physical transformation, combined with his dedication to intelligent movement and his serious approach to off-pitch preparation, together shaped the formidable striker who has intimidated opponents for years. Avoiding offside is just another part of this story.

Diterjemahkan oleh AI.

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