Thierry Henry says he doesn’t know how Erling Haaland can cope with having so few touches as he pinpoints the area of the game where the Man City striker needs to do more after Arsenal defeat

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry said he wants to see more from Erling Haaland following Sunday’s 5-1 thrashing at the hands of his former club.

The Gunners made a statement at the Emirates Stadium with Martin Odegaard opening the scoring after just two minutes.

Haaland touched the ball just six times in the first half but drew his side level with a fine header after the break.

The joy of the visiting fans was short lived, however, as Thomas Partey netted just one minute later before Myles Lewis-Skelly,  Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri got themselves on the scoresheet.

Haaland was largely anonymous aside from his goal and Henry can’t understand how the City striker is comfortable with having so little impact on the game when his team aren’t dominating the ball. 

‘I wouldn’t have been able to cope (with the lack of service); something would have happened,’ he said. ‘I would have gone to get it, touch it back, do something. 

Asked if Haaland could win Ballon d’Or playing in this manner, he said: ‘look you have guys in history known as goal scorers but you still need to be able to hold the ball. If people can challenge kylian Mbappe for not holding the ball well at Real Madrid they can surely challenge Haaland.   

‘The whole team is dropping, not only Haaland. We all know Haaland will suffer if his team is not dominating the game. 

‘He will be less effective than a guy that can run in behind, run into the channel. If his team is dominating we all know he is going to score at will.  

Henry then picked up on a moment in the game where Haaland had the chance to make a run on the break but didn’t.

‘Even your strong point, your speed, you’re not utilising that? he questioned. ‘You’re  not running in behind? We’ve seen a guy here recently, Alexander Isak, the whole game he gave Gabriel a hard time in behind. 

‘What happened to that? Drop and spin. I don’t understand why No 9s don’t do that any more.

‘We can’t challenge him on what he cannot do but he’s supposed to do this well. He didn’t.’