Erling Haaland missed a golden chance as Man City drew with RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday.
As one tired and increasingly dull debate over a striker who has already scored 32 goals this season abates, here comes another.
Can the Blues get used to playing with an outright striker after years of false-9s and midfielders up front?
Haaland has scored goals at a ridiculous rate and City remain a tremendous team after the changes.
There have been problems and it hasn’t been completely smooth sailing but as the manager is always quick to point out, that’s football.
It’s near impossible for any sportsperson or team to remain at such a level for so long.
Lionel Messi, Michael Jordan, Jimmy Anderson and only a handful of others managed to do so but it’s a rarity.
It’s what makes them so special.
There have been games when Haaland has cut a solitary figure up front, with anger slowly creeping across his face making him resemble the red-eyed terminator he is so often labelled as.
City have at times struggled to find their main man and it was especially egregious during the draw with RB Leipzig, when run after perfectly timed run went wanting.
Yet that’s what happens on occasion for strikers at every level of the game.
It’s just because Haaland’s standards are so ridiculously high that even a single blank feels like a disaster.
It’s when he does get the chance, maybe his only clear one of a game, and he doesn’t take it.
Against Leipzig and Nottingham Forest at the weekend, Haaland missed golden opportunities you’d have bet your beating heart on him to score.
Not long after he squandered those chances, which would have put City two goals up and likely out of sight, their opponents equalised.
It’s not the end of the world yet.
Escaping an away leg in the Champions League with the scores level against a team of Leipzig’s quality is a good result.
City want the Champions League more than anything.
It’s clear.
The manager knows it.
Haaland was signed to be the missing link to finally make it happen.
To be the man City can rely on to score when it matters most, to convert the guilt-edged chance when the pressure is at its zenith, to be the deciding factor in those cruel knockout ties that they have fallen afoul of on so many heartbreaking occasions.
