Erling Haaland has seen his performance against Kazakhstan in the Nations League labelled “one of the worst things I’ve seen” by former Norway manager Egil Olsen.
Norway could only muster a goalless draw at Pavlodar Central Stadium, despite fielding a team including Haaland, Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, €32m Atletico Madrid signing Alexander Sorloth and Borussia Dortmund right-back Julian Ryerson.
The result was the latest disappointment for Norway, who failed to qualify for Euro 2024, and Haaland’s display drew particular ire from Norwegian television channel TV2 – they rated the Manchester City striker at just 2/10 and labelled the team’s performance ‘deplorable’.
Haaland was heavily criticised for his showing by former Norway national team boss Olsen, who also managed Wimbledon in the Premier League in the early 2000s, with Odegaard also targeted for failing to deliver.
“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.
Amid the furore, Norway head coach Stale Solbakken was resolute in his belief that Norway will bounce back.
“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 himself spoke to the media after the game, saying of Norway’s display. “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 to score.”
Haaland may not have got on the scoresheet on this occasion, but his overall record for Norway is extremely impressive. In just 34 appearances, the 24-year-old has scored 31 times, with all but five of those goals coming in competitive fixtures.
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