Erling Haaland rated 2/10 and slammed by former manager on international duty

Erling Haaland was slammed for his performance during Norway’s goalless draw against Kazakhstan on Friday, with the Manchester City star handed a shocking 2/10 rating.

Haaland and his Norway team-mates failed to break their opponent’s defence down, despite Kazakhstan being ranked a lowly 109th in the world.

By contrast, Norway, who boast the likes of Haaland and Arsenal ace Martin Odegaard at their disposal, sit 50th in FIFA’s world rankings, a whopping 59 places above Kazakhstan.

It wasn’t for the lack of effort on Norway’s part, given the Nordic nation registered an impressive 19 shots across the UEFA Nations League clash.

But despite having goal-machine Haaland in their ranks, Norway failed to convert any of their chances.

Haaland, who played the full 90 minutes, wasted a worrying four chances of his own – sharp contrast to the clinical form he’s been in for table-toppers City so far this season.

Haaland’s performances for Norway have come under criticism in the past, but few assessments have been as harsh as former Norway manager Egil Olsen’s after the Kazakhstan draw.

Speaking to TV2 in Norway, Olsen commented: “We have two world-class players in the team. 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.”

Whereas former player turned pundit Jan Aage Fjortoft posted on X: “0-0 in Kazakhstan! Not good at all. Very disappointing performance again by Norway. Still a mystery how so many good players can’t be turned into a good [team].”

However, the striker’s harshest critics were his fellow countrymen, with a poll ran by TV2 revealing Haaland was given a 2/10 rating for his performance against Kazakhstan.

The fans have good reason to lambast their talisman’s performance too, given the Nations League is considered an important competition to Norway.

Haaland was only one month old the last time Norway competed at a major tournament, with the football-loving nation in the midst of a close to 25-year stint in the wilderness.

For a nation like Norway, the Nations League provides an alternative option to qualifying for a major tournament, given the winner of each group automatically secures a spot in the European Championship play-off round.

But with Austria and Slovenia the other two teams in Norway’s group, Haaland and co. are already up against it.