Bundesliga
"Erling Haaland better than last season" - Marco Rose
Borussia Dortmund head coach Marco Rose has revealed how Erling Haaland continues to refine his game, and says the 21-year-old striker is already a better player than he was last season.
Haaland ended his first full campaign in the Bundesliga with 27 goals in 28 appearances, putting him third in the charts behind Andre Silva (28) and Robert Lewandowski (41), whilst top scoring in the UEFA Champions League (10). He also contributed three goals during Dortmund's triumphant DFB Cup run, and one in the Supercup.
In 2021/22, Haaland has struck 17 times in 13 outings, despite sitting out 10 competitive matches through injury. Eleven have fallen across eight Bundesliga appearances, at a league-best average of one goal every 58 minutes.
This term he also became the league's youngest player to 50 goals - doing so in just 50 games - and Rose is firmly of the belief that his young striker is now even better than before.
Watch: The Erling Haaland story
"He's much improved compared to last season," said Rose. "He has better timing, finds a good position, and he's making the right decisions."
Having been on the receiving end of the Haaland freight train last year - the Norwegian scored four times in two league appearances against Rose's Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2020/21 - and coached the 21-year-old prior to his arrival in Germany, Rose is in a better position than most to pass assess Haaland's development.
And Rose sees a player getting better and better with each passing week, adding: "He's taken another step forward, but I'm not surprised by Erling, because he is of course a player willing to learn and tries to convert every little weakness that he recognises in himself into a strength."