MARTIN KEOWN revealed he used Erling Haaland’s dark arts long before the Manchester City sensation was terrorising Premier League defenders.
And the Arsenal legend even managed to get Italian legend Francesco Totti sent off with a cheeky pinch.
Haaland, 22, is tearing up scoring records by the week and could potentially fire Pep Guardiola’s side to a treble.
But it is not just his goal-scoring which has made him so dangerous with the Norwegian also a pro at mind games.
Brentford defender Ben Mee revealed earlier this week that the Norwegian is a fan of the ‘dark arts’ and has begun pinching defenders to put them off their game.
But Arsenal legend Keown says it was a tactic that he also used to frustrate opposition strikers in his own heyday.
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Writing for the Mail, he said: “There are different types of defenders in football and I definitely fell into the category of a ‘contact’ centre half. I wanted to leave an impression on my opponent from the off.
“I wanted to get into [my opponent’s] head, test his temperament and upset his focus and concentration. Occasionally, that would include pinching him in the lower back.
“I first encountered it myself in a European game with Arsenal and decided to bring it back to England.
“Some opponents refused to react, such as Gianluca Vialli. But that physical contact proved too much for Francesco Totti, who could not control himself and was sent off for repeatedly trying to elbow me in the face in a Champions League game in March 2003.”
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Keown adds that the “sky is the limit” for Haaland due to his mix of attributes to get around defenders.
He has 32 goals in 28 games and is not far off breaking Alan Shearer and Andy Cole’s joint-record for most Premier League goals in a season.
The pair claimed 34 strikes in separate seasons in the mid-90s but those were within seasons when 42 games were played instead of 38.
A few more Haaland goals could help City catch Keown’s former club Arsenal, who currently have a four point lead at the top of the table.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
