Erling Haaland’s performance for Norway in their draw with Kazakhstan in the Nations League has been labelled “one of the worst things I’ve seen” by one of the nation’s former managers.
Haaland was joined by Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard in the Norway team that failed to find a way through in Kazakhstan, the latest disappointment after they failed to qualify for Euro 2024.
The Manchester City striker’s performance drew particular criticism from Norwegian TV channel TV2, who gave him a rating of 2/10, labelling the team’s all-round display ‘deplorable’.
Former Norway boss Egil Olsen claimed he had never seen Haaland play worse and also took aim at Odegaard for a patchy display.
“We have two world-class players in the team,” Olsen said. “Today Erling Braut Haaland was unfortunately far below par. It’s one of the worst things I’ve seen from Haaland.
“Martin Odegaard flashes at times, but I have also seen him better. One point here is too bad. There are no other teams in this group that will concede points to Kazakhstan.
Current Norway head coach Stale Solbakken was resolute in his belief that Norway will bounce back when speaking to reporters after the game.
“We have great faith in what we do, and we are quite calm,” he said. “Now we have to take care that we don’t get countered to death at the end. But it is clear that we travelled here with hopes and expectations of taking three points, and we should have managed that.”
Odegaard also addressed the media: “It’s a disappointment, we do a lot of good things but we also don’t score. It’s difficult, nobody has any good answers as to exactly why we manage not to score.”
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Haaland has a very good international record to match his extraordinary feats in the club game, scoring 31 goals in 34 appearances for his country, with all but five of those goals in competitive fixtures.
The disappointing display for his country comes amid reports that he’s set to be offered a new deal by Manchester City.
Haaland’s basic salary currently stands at £375,000 per week, which already places him among the club’s top earners, though the structure of his contract includes a series of performance-related bonuses, which could potentially elevate his weekly earnings beyond a whopping £850,000.
It’s not clear in a report in Spain whether those bonuses would remain in a new deal, but it’s claimed his starting salary will rise closer to £400,000 per week.
The 24-year-old has scored 97 goals in 102 appearances for City, including seven in his opening three games this season, and inspired the club to an historic treble in his debut campaign before claiming another Premier League trophy last term.
