Erling Haaland admits he’s gone his whole career without knowing basic football rule

Erling Haaland has opened up on what “annoys” him most in modern football and in doing so, the Norwegian made a confession about throw-ins.

The 23-year-old striker, who has scored 18 goals in 23 Premier League appearances this season, sat down with Manchester City’s official podcast to discuss a range of topics.

He spoke about how he can improve on and off the pitch, as well as his unwavering belief in manager Pep Guardiola after the Spaniard led City to a famous treble.

One of the biggest talking points, however, was his thought process on using technology across the field of play, including throw-ins.

In short, Haaland thinks teams profit too much by using underhand tactics such as “stealing” too many metres.

When speaking about the things he would change in modern football, he said: “The first is to introduce goal line technology all over the pitch, so that you always know when the ball is out of play.”

As mentioned above, Haaland also brings up the topic of throw-ins and it’s here when the Norwegian admitted that he isn’t entirely familiar with the rules.

“What annoys me is throw-ins,” he added. “If you throw this way or that way, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you have two hands on the ball.

“I don’t even know the rules, and if I’m going to make a throw, I’ll probably do it wrong. But it doesn’t matter if you throw the ball straight down, straight up or whatever. I would change that.

“We will see what happens in the future but you need a certain time limit to take throw-ins and you cannot take too many metres – just give a mark and you can only go there.”

Image credit: Getty

City were penalised for a foul throw during their 2-1 win against Luton in December – an incident that may well have triggered Haaland’s annoyance at the situation.

Haaland also opened up on wanting to improve after a record-breaking campaign last season that featured 52 goals in 53 games.

“There’s loads of things to still improve,” Haaland said. “When you play so many games, it’s difficult to train because you have to get ready and do the stuff that gets you fit for the next game.

“I want to become even better with the team, to be more solid with the team and to perform in the biggest games.

“And I want to recreate the things we did last season.”

Featured Image Credit: Man City official podcast – Getty Images

Topics: Erling Haaland, Manchester City, Premier League, Norway