Erling Haaland is doing two things that have changed his Man City status

Erling Haaland continued his remarkable start to the season by scoring twice for Manchester City as they drew 2-2 with Monaco in the Champions League.

It's a funny thing to say about someone who has now scored 135 goals in 154 games, but Erling Haaland has rarely been considered Manchester City's most important player.

Best, maybe, although that is subjective. Even when Haaland was enjoying one of his goalscoring gluts, when he looked unstoppable, the prevailing view was that if you took him out of the team, City would survive. They did pretty well before he arrived, after all.

But if you took Rodri out of the team, well, now you have a problem. As if to prove the argument, the 29-year-old was forced out last season, and things fell apart.

There is a difference between causation and correlation, however. City won 10 of their first 11 games without Rodri last season, and while they clearly missed the 2024 Ballon d'Or winner when the going got tough, they arguably also showed that they could actually cope with him.

Now the Spaniard is back, although not at his best. He is easing his way in, feeling pain in his knee every now and again and uncertain in himself as his body adapts again to the rigours of elite-level football.

City haven't really seen the real Rodri yet this term, but they are doing pretty well without that version for now. If anything, the first few months show that his mantle as City's most important player might have been handed over.

Haaland surely now has that status - not just for the goals he scores but for the way he now looks to be the player carrying this team on his shoulders. He can't snuff out counter-attacks in the way Rodri can, but he can muck in defensively, and since being given leadership responsibilities, there is an aura around him.

There is also a cutting tongue. For the second time this season, he delivered a brutal message that things had to improve, slamming a lacklustre second-half display in Monaco and including himself in the criticism, although in truth, he should have been exempt given his teammates' failure to get the ball to him.

In the first half, he showed what he could do when he had it. It took him 14 minutes and 17 seconds to touch the ball, but then he calmly lifted it over Phillip Kohn to find the back of the net.

His second was even better, producing a stunning header to convert a Nico O'Reilly cross. The Norwegian combined a breathtaking leap with the ability to generate power into the ball from a looping cross. The chance had an xG of 0.07, but that became 0.67 once Haaland had made contact, which says all you need to know about how much credit he deserves for the goal.

There were other examples of his leadership and high standards. He was angry at himself for not combining with Phil Foden for a first-half one-two, then angry with Josko Gvardiol for not squaring to him in stoppage time at the end of the second half.

Haaland was furious at City's late concession and collected his man of the match trophy with a scowl that betrayed his emotions. It was the win that really mattered and that had got away, but there is little doubt now that he is the most important player in this team.

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