ERLING HAALAND: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

0:00This episode of The Rest is Football is powered by our new presenting partners Fuse Energy. We're thrilled to welcome them to the team, especially outside the regular transfer window. A new sign-in providing power and energy. That sounds like a bit of me back in the day, Gaz. And reliable too. Not one of those fair weather players who go missing in December. Fuse will be powering the rest of his football right through the season. They're one of the UK's fastest growing energy suppliers, building solar farms and helping homes make smarter choices. power that performs throughout the season. Fuse, keep everything running.

0:39Lights on, meters smart, cars charged. A full squad you can count on. And when you sign up for their fixed rates, your energy prices hold their shape, even as the nights turn colder and the title race heats up. The season is long, but with Fuse, the energy never drops. For more information about energy that hits the top corner every time, head to FuseEnergy.com slash football. And if you fancy getting involved, sign up with the code FOOTBALL for the chance to get a shout out on the pod and throw your own question at us next time. Erling Haaland is joining us. You've just beaten his record, quite comfortably, I must say, by 13 games.

1:25We just worked it out, just over a thousand goals between us in all competitions, which is not bad. And I think you might take that to about 1 ,500 the way you're going. Even before the season, there was no much speaking about me. I loved it. So nice. I was like, okay, let's go. Let's have it. The biggest compliment is when people say, another tap-in. I am a bit old school because of my father. You never see me playing with gloves. It's because my father.

1:56You need to be at the perfect readiness at all times because when you expect it the least, that's when you normally get the chance. I could have scored many more. Look at all the chances I missed. I had two in the post against Fulham. If I was maybe a bit more focused while finishing, I'd get a hat-trick. That's the reality, but I didn't. Did you speak to Pep before you came? Did he call you? He did. He said the only thing I can come with is amazing football and you scoring a lot of goals. When Pep has taken you off, when you're on two goals, that would seriously fucking annoy me. Tell me the truth, what you're feeling.

2:29Let's be honest, when I scored five goals against Leipzig, of course I won't score six. Alfie, my father, his biggest dream was me becoming a professional golfer. You're such a disappointment, sir. I remember every day before going to bed, my wish was I want to be the best footballer in the world.

3:08There you go.

3:26Hello and welcome to The Rest is Football with Alan Shearer and me, Gary Lineker, and we're joined by a very, very special guest. We've come up to Manchester, to the training ground at Manchester City, because, well, a bit of history's happened in the last few days. Erling Haaland is joining us. Welcome. thanks for doing this you've just beaten his record and there's a ball here actually I don't know whether you've seen it yet I don't think you noticed it when you walk in I think you're going to be presented that in the game have you actually seen it? you've got all the numbers of each goal and there's a little drawing on each one every goal, very nice very clever it's pretty cool so how was it to know that you've beaten his record quite comfortably I must say by 13 games.

4:17Yeah, so obviously I knew for time that the 100 goals was possible to break, I'll be honest to say that. But again, I didn't think too much about the record, which I don't do. I've said it many times. I know one record, that's the all-time one. So 260 goals. Yeah. But the rest, I don't know. When it happens, it's amazing. like with the Fulham game it's a piece of history if you want to say and of course it's a huge thing in the end to be able to see first of all a list with the many great players and also the beaten as well Thank you Alice, you've taken it well Yeah, I mean it was going to happen it was just a matter of a matter of when I kept on looking at well he hasn't scored what was it two games that you'd hadn't scored for in the league in Premier League a big gold round but it was always going to happen and yeah I'm actually I'm delighted for you you deserve it because you just made it look so easy it's not you're playing in the best league against some of the best defenders you've been here three and a half years now honestly how have you found it because you make it look stupidly easy and it's not is it no it's not it's hard it's really hard I've said it before, since coming from Germany, it's different.

5:45It's more physical, I think. Is it more physical than the German league? Because the German is kind of end-to-end football, isn't it? Yeah, but it's more the duels and it's more the contact, you know. It's just like even playing against Fulham, it's a top team. Look at the game. It's 5-4 in the end. It's incredible. And you play against Bassi, which is, how strong is he? And Andersen is huge. So every game is kind of, of course, its own game and everything. You have your plan and everything. But in the end, the physicality is so intense. And it's difficult, you know, because there's so many games.

6:22And you have the Champions League, you have the Cups and everything. So that also makes you need to work even more on the recovery side and be ready for the next game. Because look, now we played Fulham and then Sunderland comes straight ahead. and Sunderland, how good have they been this season? But you love a physical battle though, don't you? When you talk about the size of defenders, they must look at you and think, look at the size of him. You must love that side of things. Yeah, it's nice and I am a bit old school in a lot of things because of my father. I've also been looking at the Premier League ever since I, as long as I can remember.

7:01So I like the old school kind of, the charming thing of running, tackling, all these kind of things it's a nice thing and also like you never see me playing with gloves it's because my father would hit me if I did so I'm a bit old school as well so that's why I like it as well Is it one of the reasons that you chose Manchester City I mean obviously at the time you were scoring all sorts of goals at Dortmund everybody wanted you why did you want to come to A. the Premier League and B. Manchester City Because in Norway, it's the league, we watch everyone in Norway has got a team, you know, there's so many Newcastle supporters, especially in my hometown, because it's on the one-hour flight to Newcastle, it's really close, you know, so it's always been that, you know, there's so many Leeds fans.

7:57Why didn't you go to Newcastle? I was just about to answer that question myself. You know, so many Premier League fans in Norway, including myself, and also when my father played in Premier League, you kind of get dragged a bit into it, don't you? I think in the end when this opportunity came with Pep and of course trying to be a part of the history when I signed was, I don't know the name, intriguing if this is the right thing to say. And yeah, in the end it worked out, which I knew it was going to be. And yeah, it's been amazing so far. Yeah, because I would say that you buck the trend, really, because most of the superstars of world football, and I'd definitely put you in that category, they go to Real Madrid or they go to Barcelona, don't they?

8:50And they still do. Perhaps the first one that didn't was maybe Paul Pogba, you could say at that particular point in his career. But I think you were the first general superstar that all the clubs want that came to an English club. Yeah, and I think also timing is really important. You know, with coming into City, they needed a striker and all of this was also something that triggered me, you know. Pep's been playing a little bit without a striker and he loves to keep the ball. So then I was thinking like, imagine me coming in and Edison just like a few goals. Edison just hanging the ball in behind and me running scoring, you know.

9:30It's also kind of a thing that triggered me a little bit to kind of break up the game a bit. and also show Pep's side that he can also be direct, not only passing the ball, you know. Did you speak to Pep before you came? Was there a chat among... Did he call you? He did. Yeah, he did. Was he quite persuasive? He said, the only thing I can come with is amazing football and you scoring a lot of goals. So that was a nice conversation. You know, you just mentioned there before about Pep and the passing and passing and passing. When I spoke to you about three years ago, I was like, well, throw your weight around, get them to put the ball in early.

10:12I think I've noticed a shift in them doing that more this season for you. Is that me seeing things or is that something that you've spoken about and it's really happening? I think also it's maybe we haven't got the ball as much as previous seasons, maybe. And I think that's a good thing. Like look at for example the goal against, of course, you have Bournemouth but Arsenal away. We haven't got the ball, we win it. And it's a lot of space, which is a good thing for me, you know, to run into the space. And yeah, it's a bit of different, you know, we change style and of course depends on who you play.

10:55Some teams just come to the Etihad and try to park the bus for 90 minutes and other come to try to play like Bournemouth. and then there's a different kind of game and you can score different kind of goals. So it really depends on who you're meeting. But yeah, it's a little bit different, isn't it? I think in also the way I've been scoring some of the goals as well. There's a slight shift all over the Premier League, isn't it? It's gone back a little bit to more directors and then we're seeing a lot more throw-ins and stuff like that. It's gone full cycle. Yeah, I mean, and also I like it, you know.

11:27You think of Stoke City when you think of the Longcloves with Rory De Lape throwing them in. I remember this as well. It was incredible. And now you see it happening again. I don't think a few years ago you'd think of the first players in Premier League doing long throws with a 100 million pound player. So you never know what's going to happen. I want to talk a little bit, well, a lot actually, about the art of goal scoring. I mean, there's three of us here. We scored a few between us. We just worked it out. Just over a thousand goals between us in all competitions, which is not bad. And I think you might take that to about 1 ,500, the way that you're going.

12:04So I just want to talk a little bit about the art of goal scoring, how it possibly has changed from Alan's era and my era to how it is now. I don't think it's changed a lot. But first, the goal scorer's mentality. Because Alan and myself, we talked a lot about the desire, the passion, the absolute will to score. I presume that you're like that. Yeah, of course. I love scoring goals. And the biggest compliment I feel I'm getting is when people say another tap-in, another easy goal. Because the easiest goal is the best, because what's the most difficult thing is to score goals. And when you can do it in an easy way, this is even better.

12:49You know, if you could be in the perfect place all the time, scoring easy goals, that's a good thing. and most of goals get scored inside the box, but also inside the five meters. So you need to position yourself perfectly and that's also really difficult. We don't get much time to train, but how do you work on your goal score? Is it a regular thing? How does that work with you? I think for me, the thing that works the most is to be clear in your mind, I think, all the time. and this is not a practice thing, this is more preparation, but coming into every game, no matter what happened in your life, no matter what will happen, you still need to be ready when you get that chance.

13:39And if you drop a few percentages, it might not be enough. So you need to be at the perfect readiness in your mind and in your body at all times, because when you expect it the least, that's when you normally get the chance. And when you get the chance, sometimes you only get one chance. And now there's so many games, so you haven't got time to think of the chance. But if you play once a week and you get one chance and you are not fully focused on that chance, that's going to bother you in your brain for one week. So it's about being, for me, and it sounds, it's difficult to explain, but it's about being fully ready for that one chance.

14:24Like the goal against Fulham. It's not easy. I didn't expect Jeremy to cross it like that but it came perfectly and I hit perfectly on the bounce right over the head of the keeper and it was enough. How do you feel when you score a goal early? We were talking about this just before you came in because you score a goal early in the game like against Fulham and then there's loads of goals in the game and then at the end of the match you haven't got another one. Does that leave you... I mean, I said to Alan, I can't remember many games where I walked off the pitch really happy. Even if I'd scored, if you scored two in the first hour, you're still disappointed because you didn't get the third.

14:59Do you have that same kind of mentality? Of course, I want to score more goals, you know, and I had two in the post against Fulham. So if I was maybe a bit more sharp, I don't want to say lucky, but a bit more focused while finishing, I'd get a hat-trick. that's reality but I didn't but I got one goal I got the 100 but I should have had more in that game simple as that you know and that's what you think about afterwards alright you scored the 100 but you're thinking I should have 100 and 100 yeah I think it's normal in our brains to think like that and even both both the post shots piss me off absolutely tell me about I mean, we can swear because it's our podcast, but when Pep's taking you off and you're on two goals, that would seriously fucking annoy me.

15:56Tell me the truth, what you're feeling. I've seen you say something about that before. I've been reading that. Be honest with us. Nah, depends a little bit. How my body is, if I'm really tired or if I have some problems, then maybe me and him and the physios are the only ones to know about. It's good. But let's be honest, when I scored five goals against Leipzig, of course I wanted to score six. Let's be honest. But again, the guy that comes in for me, I think it would be really disrespectful if I would come out and be pissed off for him coming in and getting the opportunity to do something or to play.

16:39So I think that's the last thing I would be, is to show anyone that I'm pissed off for getting substituted. And it's different now, isn't it? I mean, you'd have loved it in our day. You never went off. You never went off. You play 90 minutes every single game. So you'd have loved it. But the big squads now and the amount of games and there's so many more European fixtures than there used to be. So I guess you have to be sensible. Yeah. And look how many games I already played and how many games there is left. Look at the schedule. If you look at the schedule, it's incredible. And the World Cup is coming up as well.

17:14And congratulations on qualifying. Thank you. It's still another seven-month season and we're in December. So it's a long season. So again, you need to kind of think a bit different because you can't play every game now. It's impossible. 80 games potentially. It's just how it is. You talked about earlier, didn't we, about the desire to score goals. And you talked about the fact that sometimes people just say you just get tap-ins, right? So does that annoy you a little bit when people say, well he didn't do anything all game, he didn't really touch the ball at all and then he scores a tapping, it used to irritate me because I think the fans, a lot of people, they miss how many runs you make you know, you run there, you run there, the run there the ball doesn't come, the ball doesn't come, the ball doesn't come does it irritate you a little bit the way people go oh yeah but he just gets tappings and he didn't do anything else I like when people say these kind of things because it doesn't trigger me, but it's more like when people are speaking about you.

18:19First of all, it's a good thing. If no one is speaking about you, it's not a good thing as a footballer. So even before the season, there were not much speaking about me. And I loved it. It's so nice. I was like, okay, let's go. Let's have it. No one was speaking about me. Only about the new signings and all of this. And then the season started and look how it's going. So no, it doesn't bother me. I'm more like I'm just doing my job. So you do listen to it then? You do listen to the noise outside, whether it's good or bad? Of course, I'm a human being, so you kind of get it with you in some way.

19:01But again, I'm really like this about the TV channels I put on because I shouldn't be listening to, I think, Sky Sports all day. I don't think it's a good thing listening to all the opinions because I kind of know myself what I should do and what I'm doing. But of course you get it with you, you know. It's just how it is and how quiet it was in the pre-season this season. And that followed a season of you still scored a lot of goals, but it wasn't quite the season that everyone expected for Manchester City last season. Why do you think that was? There were quite a lot of injuries. Do you think that was the main reason?

19:40It's injuries, first of all. look at at one time at our defense i don't i don't want to blame injuries and i'm not doing it i'm just saying it was a part of it and i think it's just so difficult to maintain and to keep it up after winning there is something psychologically if you haven't won it for 25 years contra if you been winning it for the last four years for example i think it's it's just in our human human nature to have a different kind of mentality of it and it's so difficult to to maintain and to keep it up after doing something great even though there's nothing better for straight years when we win the treble to be able to win four in a row this was incredible you know i think this was amazing and it's it will be spoken about for the next hundred years because i don't think anyone will do it do you feel like it's coming back to where you were or do you still think there's a bit of a way to go?

20:35I think it's a way. There's been so many changes and that kind of generation that dominated the last 10 years. Many have been leaving, even like Kevin, he was here for 10 years. Edison, in the playing style, he was so important. So it takes time when you have the changes and all of this. But again, when you get bought in from Manchester City, there's a reason for it, because you're good enough and the club sees something in you that you should get out in the games and to prove to anyone. Do you map your future out? Do you look at every single season? Because when we were playing, I think, I'm all right in saying that, if you said to yourself before season started, I get to 20 goals, that was the barometer to get to, wasn't it?

21:2320 goals. Do you have a, is there anything mentality-wise? This is 40. Yeah, I was just about to ask that. Is there anything mentality-wise that you think I need to get to a number? So when I came to City, what would be a good season for me? What would you think you'd say? I think if I got 20, you'd say it's an okay season. You said a good season, I didn't say a great season. If City winning the league and me scoring 25 goals, I think it would be a good season. 30 goals, it would be a really good season. 35 goals, amazing season, no? And 36, really good. The funniest thing is, or not the funniest, like not the weirdest either.

22:04It's difficult to put words on it. I could have scored many more. Look at all the chances I missed. Even this season, I could have had many more goals. But to score a lot of goals, you have to miss them as well. Exactly. Because nobody's perfect. Nobody's perfect. But again, though, we try to get there. And even now, I'm on Premier League 15 goals, which is really good so far. Before Christmas, yeah. That's really good. But again, there's so many things that can happen and I'm not putting any targets because there's so many things that can happen. So that's why I'm trying to take game by game.

22:42And if you can take game by game, and of course you want to win every game, help the team, because it's a team sport, of course. But again, as I said before, I'm the striker of City. I have to score goals. If not, they have to replace me. because if I'm not delivering the goals and the things they need, they have to replace me. So there is a lot of pressure on me to deliver and to do the job. It doesn't happen very often, but when you don't score, does it keep you up at night? It depends a little bit, but normally not because there's another game in a few days and you can kind of reset. If we don't win a game, thank God it's a game in three days and not a week because then you'd sit and you'd be like, you know?

23:27So now it's more like trying to focus on the next game. But it depends on. You remember the Manchester United game when we won four in a row when you missed from one meet, I can just head it in and I tried to do this. If I didn't score in the last minutes, it could be. Yeah, that would hurt a little bit. That would hurt a little bit. It would. This Christmas we're partnering with Tesco For footballers, Christmas Day isn't time off, it's part of the job. Which got us thinking, can footballers ever really enjoy Christmas when they're playing on Boxing Day? Well, the ones that can control themselves, Gary, and have a little bit rather than a lot, unlike some people on here.

24:09What, pigs in blankets?

24:14Tesco's pigs in blankets. Tesco's finest. Let's get it right, guys. How many can you do, do you think, Micah? what in half an hour are we talking about in one in one seating are we talking about all day one seating one hit at least 75 and and I presume also you'll still consume the turkey and the roast potatoes alongside that as well of course I can imagine you not having many good games on Boxing Day Micah I mean you enjoy Christmas I think because I mean you hate Christmas anyway Mike but we won't go into depth on that but I think Christmas is really about family and particularly when you the kids are little and you're having so much fun so I don't know I don't know about you Alan but since I finished actually playing football when I play football I mean like you said you you can have a little you know a glass of wine or two but you've got to know when to stop because you got a game the other day I suspect and I know I've played with players that didn't know when to stop and have come in in a right state on Boxing Day.

25:22So I think you've got to be a little bit disciplined. Whereas working in TV like we do now, and I've done a million Boxing Day shows. In fact, this Boxing Day, I think, genuinely think, because I never missed it through injury when I played, I think this will be the first Christmas where I won't work on Boxing Day since I was a child. I think I'm joining you there. I think I'm the same, you know, guys, because there's no match of the day this year on Boxing Day because there's only one game. And I always used to enjoy doing Boxing Day. So there's a match of the day on the 27th. So I'm the same as you about playing and then working on Boxing Day.

26:06But different managers did it differently throughout my career. Some made you train on Christmas Day morning. Some didn't. So some left it to yourself. you can go and basically do what you want, but they trusted you to have the Christmas meal. And then wherever your game was on Boxing Day, they trusted you to meet up on Boxing Day and do what you basically wanted on Christmas Day. Were you as a player, Micah? Couldn't care less. I didn't care. As long as you had loads of food. The pigs and blankets, that's all I look for. That was it. There's nothing else to it for me. Like you said, I don't like Christmas.

26:44I don't like people at my house. I just love the food. Do you know what I like? What I really look forward to in Christmas, and I do it every year, I cook for everyone. And it's part of the fun. You go to town, you cook loads of stuff. And Micah, if you came around any Christmas, I would put a whole table aside of pigs in blankets, as well as everything else. I'm not sure that would be enough for him. Produce is very, very important. And you've got to get the stuff. And as we know, there's great stuff at Tesco. So maybe the perfect Christmas doesn't exist. It's just the one that feels like yours.

27:22A bit of football, plenty of food and family. That's the winning Christmas lineup. Shop Tesco food this Christmas, either in store or online. This episode is brought to you by Hotels.com. Make your next trip work for you. Hotels.com just rolled out a game-changing feature called Save Your Way. And it's as simple as it sounds. When you book a trip as a Hotels.com member, you decide how to use your savings. Choose to take the instant savings now or bank the savings as rewards for later. It's your call. Envision converting discounts on this week's stay into rewards for a luxurious beach getaway next year.

28:05No complicated math, no blackout dates, just you choosing how to make your travels work harder for you. Only at Hotels.com. Save Your Way is available to loyalty members in the US and UK on hotels with member prices. Other terms apply. See site for details. This episode is brought to you by Okta. You hear a lot about AI agents now. They're everywhere, quietly running things, making decisions, speeding work up across organisations. And that's all well and good until you stop and think, who's actually in charge? Because if you don't know who an agent is, what it's connected to, or what it's allowed to do, you can't really trust it to act in your interests.