Манчестер Ситигийн довтлогч Эрлинг Холанд талбай дээрх хурд, чиглэлээ өөрчлөх болон байрлал сонгох чадвараараа Европын шилдэг тоглогчдын ур чадварыг өөртөө нэгтгэжээ.
Мадридын Техникийн их сургуулийн биомеханикийн мэргэжилтэн Арчит Навандарын судалгаагаар Эрлинг Холанд нь хамгийн дээд тал нь 35.5 км/цаг хурдлах чадвартай бөгөөд энэ нь төвийн довтлогчдын дунд тэргүүлэх үзүүлэлт юм. Тэрээр зөвхөн шулуун зайд хурдлах бус, өөрийн биеийн хүндийн төвийг ашиглан чиглэлээ огцом өөрчлөх, муруй чиглэлээр довтолгоонд оролцохдоо хурдаа алдахгүй байх онцгой техникийг эзэмшжээ. Өнгөрсөн улиралд Манчестер Ситигийн бүрэлдэхүүнд 52 тоглолтод оролцохдоо 38 гоол оруулж, 9 оновчтой дамжуулалт өгсөн түүний хөдөлгөөн бүр нь тоглолтын нөхцөл байдалд бүрэн зохицсон байдаг.
Хоёрдугаар сард Ньюкасл Юнайтедийн эсрэг хийсэн тоглолтын үеэр тэрээр 43 удаа бөмбөгөнд хүрч, 12 халз тулаанд оролцсон нь түүний талбай дээрх ачааллыг харуулсан юм. Пеп Гвардиола түүний энэхүү дайчин тоглолтыг онцлон магтсан бөгөөд тоглолтын 72 дахь минутад түүний үзүүлсэн хурдтай сөрөг довтолгооныг мэргэжилтнүүд спринтерүүдийн техник болон хөлбөмбөгийн авхаалж самбааны төгс хослол хэмээн үнэлжээ. Тэрээр дэлхийн дээд амжилтын эзэн Юсэйн Болттой ижил бие бялдрын өгөгдөлтэй ч, хурдаа хадгалахын зэрэгцээ бөмбөгөө хянах, хамгаалагчдыг хуурах зэрэг олон төрлийн даалгаврыг нэгэн зэрэг гүйцэтгэдгээрээ ялгардаг.
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Thierry Henry curved away from defenders, Cristiano Ronaldo attacked their blind side and Kylian Mbappe outran them. But Erling Haaland has a claim to football’s perfect run that borrows from all three.
Haaland is 195cm (6ft 5in), but the Manchester City and Norway striker’s best movement begins before the sprint, with a glance, a drift away from danger and one step that changes his direction. He then opens his stride and turns a few yards of space into a route to goal.
The Athletic spoke to Archit Navandar, assistant professor of biomechanics at the Technical University of Madrid, who compared Haaland with eight-time Olympic champion and 100m and 200m world-record holder Usain Bolt, who is the same height.
“Unlike Bolt, who relied a lot on stride length over stride frequency to accelerate to max velocity, Haaland uses a combination of both to generate speed and control the ball at the same time,” Navandar says.
The 26-year-old scored 38 goals and provided nine assists in 52 appearances for City last season, including 27 Premier League goals to claim his third Golden Boot in four years. He then scored seven times at his debut World Cup as Norway reached the quarter-finals for the first time, surpassing their previous best finish of the round of 16 in 1998.
Opta tracking data shows the scale of the work Haaland does between touches. The distance covered by regular Premier League starters can vary by almost four kilometres per 90 minutes according to position and role, with midfielders generally covering more ground than centre-backs or centre-forwards.
Across City’s opening seven league matches last season, Haaland covered 66.3km, around 9.5km per game, while averaging only 24.2 touches per 90 minutes. He ranked 10th among Premier League forwards and wingers for distance covered despite having the third-fewest touches of any player to complete at least 300 minutes. That equates to roughly 390 metres covered for every touch recorded.
When Haaland accelerates, those metres disappear quickly. His average across his three highest speeds last season was 35.5km/h, joint-sixth in the Premier League data and the highest figure among recognised centre-forwards. Benjamin Sesko was the next-fastest striker at 34.7km/h.
“Tall and big athletes always draw attention when running at high speeds, like Usain Bolt,” Navandar says.
But the comparison only goes so far. Bolt could devote every stride to reaching maximum speed in a straight lane. Haaland has to stay onside, read a pass, evade defenders and retain enough control to change direction or shoot.
His most common high-speed off-ball runs show the difference. Defined as movements averaging at least 25km/h for 0.7 seconds, several begin around halfway before travelling diagonally or bending towards the penalty area rather than taking the shortest route.
Those curves allow Haaland to change the angle from which he attacks the defence while continuing to build speed, rather than committing immediately to a straight-line race.
Navandar analysed one example from City’s 2-1 win over Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium in February.
Haaland had already crossed for Nico O’Reilly to head what proved to be the winner and, despite not scoring himself, had 43 touches, his most in a Premier League game, and contested a career-high 12 duels.
Pep Guardiola later called it a performance he would “never forget”, praising his striker for having to “run, run, run and fight”.
The sequence came in the 72nd minute, with City protecting their lead. Haaland is almost stationary on the right, waits for the ball and turns infield. Little more than four seconds later, he is approaching Newcastle’s penalty area at speed.
Navandar broke the movement down step by step. The first is deliberately short and lands beneath Haaland’s centre of mass, essentially the point around which his weight is balanced.
He says that positioning helps rotate the shoulders and trunk before his entire 6ft 5in frame commits to the new direction. His second step is much wider and remains on the ground for longer. It produces the sideways force required to turn while still driving him forwards.
Navandar adds that the step generates the turning force needed for Haaland to lean into the turn, comparing the movement to a motorbike taking a corner. Rather than slowing, changing direction and then rebuilding speed, his body can lean through the curve while continuing to accelerate.
The third step comes further inside the bend, allowing a greater lean and a sharper turn without significantly compromising his speed.
“He uses his arms to stabilise the movement, like a speed skater on a curve,” Navandar says.
Once Haaland completes the bend, his mechanics change. The sideways lean becomes a forward one, the gap between his legs increases, and his feet begin landing beneath or slightly behind his centre of mass as his stride lengthens.
Navandar says he shows “all the characteristics of a good acceleration technique, similar to a sprinter”, including a forward trunk lean that gradually reduces as his speed rises, a large arm swing and significant movement through the hips.
But Haaland never quite becomes a conventional sprinter. A 100m runner gradually becomes more upright approaching maximum velocity. Haaland remains inclined forwards because he is still accelerating, allowing a quicker change of direction if the defender or the ball moves.
“It is more like sustained acceleration mechanics, rather than max velocity sprinting mechanics,” Navandar says.
In other words, Haaland is still in the process of speeding up rather than settling into the body position required to run at top speed.
The ball forces another adjustment. Haaland’s stride continues to lengthen, but when a touch is required, he changes where his foot lands before returning to his running pattern. Navandar found his step frequency — how rapidly his feet hit the ground — beginning to settle after around his 12th stride.
Before shooting, he adjusts once more. A wider step gives him greater hip extension and more room for his striking leg to swing, while his upper body contributes to the power of the shot.
A Newcastle defender catches him as he strikes and Haaland ends up on the turf, but Navandar believes it was through no fault of his own.
“He falls down because of the tackle, not loss of balance,” he says.
The move does not produce a goal, but in little more than four seconds, Haaland has changed direction, accelerated, controlled the ball and reorganised his body to shoot. Bolt’s perfect run had a fixed finish line 100 metres away — Haaland’s keeps moving.
