Premier League action resumed this weekend after a short hiatus. The usual suspects – Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United have armed themselves with fresh blood and will look to re-invigorate the battle for the highest honour in England.
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur aren’t behind, as the new cavalry has only turned them into the top four contenders of the season.
But amongst all the transfers so far, the ones that have caught the eyes of everyone are Erling Haaland to City and Darwin Nunez to Liverpool. The two young forwards have brought a new dawn of rivalry to the shores of England and, given the promise that these young lads have, it’s hard not to take notice.
The two came face to face in the Community Shield, where Nunez had the last laugh with a goal that secured another title for the Reds, whereas Haaland was red-faced after missing two splendid chances. The Norwegian rues that day and is aiming for a fresh start by getting over those horrific misses as soon as possible.
And it looks like Haaland has the support of everyone around him, including his manager, Pep Guardiola. In a quick clip posted by a user on Twitter, Pep seems to be completely immersed while imparting his knowledge to Haaland, who stands firm while shaking his head.
We cannot hear what the Spanish manager has for Haaland but keeping it at face value, it sure looks like Pep’s trying to make the hefty Norwegian forget about the recent past and re-instil the confidence that made the 22-year-old one of the most lethal forwards in the world.
But everything isn’t what it seems. Football Twitter has dedicated some of its most valuable time to decoding what Pep could have been saying to Haaland. One other thing that needs to be pointed out is that the Spaniard has singled out Haaland and forced him into a corner for an animated one-on-one.
This surely couldn’t wait until tomorrow. But for now, it seems there is a certain straightforward assumption which seems to go with the tone of the video as well.
Many were critical of Haaland’s performance against the Reds last weekend and suggested that the only thing that Pep could tell the Norwegian is to forget the mistakes of the last game and use his might to prepare for the next one. Knowing how Pep motivates his players after losing a game, this seems to be the ideal talk between him and Haaland.
And this wasn’t the first instance of the ‘Pep’ talk. When Phil Foden missed a penalty in a league cup game against West Ham United, the Spaniard lifted the morale of the young English international with a one-on-one conversation because he knew this mistake was a tiny issue that shouldn’t define the players’ mindset in the future.
probably reassuring him that he’ll be okay and to ignore the last game. Pep did something similar with Phil after he missed the penalty in the league cup game vs West Ham
— jeff 🇧🇼 (@itsa90mingame) August 2, 2022
All Pep can ask of Haaland is to get his head to the ball and rest everything will fall in place.
Even though there is still an air of uncertainty around Haaland’s adaptability but if Pep can entrust him as the man to lead his attack, there is hardly any credible argument to build for anyone.
