Football is often a personification of life. After all, billions of people would not love it if it wasn’t that way. Moreover, sometimes football is even fairer than life – in life, one can occasionally get away with something, but football will humble you sooner or later.”Humble” – 50% of a two-word sentence without which this article would probably never be written, one club would perhaps be in a much better position, and one goal-scoring machine would maybe deliver much more regularly than it does these days.Haaland’s stats are more appropriate for a defender, not a strikerOn September 22, Man City returned from the verge of a defeat against ten-man Arsenal thanks to John Stones’ 98th-minute goal, salvaging a 2-2 draw. After such a “thriller finish,” the tension on the pitch was high, Erling Haaland quarrelled with Mikel Arteta and uttered, “Stay humble, eh.”Manchester City forward Erling Haaland caught on camera telling Mikel Arteta to “stay humble” at full-time yesterday. 😡 pic.twitter.com/W7oIDj10vx— AFCnewsroom (@TheAFCnewsroom) September 23, 2024 As seen in so many examples in football, what goes around comes around, and it came around about six weeks later. Both City and Haaland enjoyed in the meantime, beating Wolverhampton (2-1) and Southampton (1-0), and drawing to Newcastle (1-1). And then it started…Erling Haaland’s form since the “Stay Humble” moment has been underwhelming 🇳🇴🫣🔺 Just 4 goal contributions in 12 league games🔺 Manchester City’s Premier League record: W4 D2 L6🔺 Haaland has scored more goals for Norway than for Manchester City in the league. pic.twitter.com/Jhd6FsRv5T— Pubity Sport (@pubitysport) December 23, 2024 In the following 12 games in all competitions, the Cityzens won only one, while Haaland scored two goals in the Premier League and as many in the Champions League. Moreover, he scored as many goals in two UEFA Nations League matches for Norway!Football will humble you 👀#Haaland #MCIMUN pic.twitter.com/siBJWFvgvD— Football Xclusive (@footballxclusiv) December 15, 2024 Man City are now only seventh in the PL, while struggling in the UCL as well. At the same time, Haaland lost his Premier League leading scorer position to Mohamed Salah and went from telling others to stay humble to being humbled by football. Of course, perhaps nothing that happened to City and the Norwegian has anything to do with what he said, but remember – football is a personification of life, and in life, there are no coincidences.##NAJAVA_MECA_8593721##The Cityzens will be hoping to rescue themselves out of a severe crisis they’ve been going through with a desperately needed Boxing Day victory against Everton, in the opening game of today’s menu.ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 18Thursday 15.30: (1.35) Man.City (5.30) Everton (8.00)18.00: (2.05) Bournemouth (3.50) Crystal Palace (3.60)18.00: (1.48) Chelsea (4.40) Fulham (6.75)18.00: (2.05) Newcastle (3.60) Aston Villa (3.80)18.00: (2.35) Nott.Forest (3.60) Tottenham (2.85)18.00: (3.00) Southampton (3.50) West Ham (2.30)20.30: (4.10) Wolverhampton (3.50) Man.Utd. (1.90)23.00: (1.07) Liverpool (13.0) Leicester (25.0)Friday 22.30: (1.70) Brighton (3.90) Brentford (4.90)23.15: (1.13) Arsenal (8.50) Ipswich (19.0)***odds are subject to change***
