There have been times this season when Pep Guardiola has looked like he's had enough of answering questions about Erling Haaland. There might not be much more to say about the record-breaking Manchester City goalscorer, but he remains a headline-grabbing story.
But Guardiola's more illuminating answers about Haaland have come when he's discussed what he can improve, rather than the records he is breaking and the goals he is scoring.
Take this from Selhurst Park just seven weeks ago, when Haaland's late penalty secured a nervy victory over Crystal Palace as part of the seven-match Premier League winning run that has given City control of the title race.
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"What I would like when I finish our period together is that he could improve his game with the association with the team, with the right tempo, to realise how he can be involved in our game and not just put the ball in the net," said Guardiola.
It's not taking long for Haaland to adapt his game. His radar was off in the 4-1 win against Arsenal - he should have had more than one goal - but his combination play with Kevin De Bruyne was exceptional. According to fbref, it was the second-most touches he's had in a Premier League game this season.
Haaland twice set De Bruyne up for goals with excellent play and defender Manuel Akanji, a former teammate at Borussia Dortmund, is well-placed to explain how the Norwegian's all-round game has improved under Guardiola at the Etihad.
"I think he was always clinical in front of the goal, he had it at Dortmund. But I think the play style that he has now, that he learned here with the team, that he’s more involved in the game," he said.
"Like you could see today, he had way more touches than in the games before and he’s getting better in this every day. He brings a lot. He’s a really important player to our team, you can see how many goals he’s scored and I think also today it was not about the goal that he scored at the end, it was the two assists he gave.
"He did a really well job in keeping the balls and winning the duels up front and that helped us a lot."
Haaland's understanding with De Bruyne, in particular, has flourished in recent weeks and he's now collected three assists in his last five games, having teed up Bernardo Silva to score against Bayern Munich at the Etihad.
The 49-goal striker is without parallel according to Akanji, who is just thankful the relentless schedule at the moment means he doesn't have to face him in training that often.
"I haven’t seen a striker like him or that I’ve trained with especially," the 27-year-old said. "But, to be honest we don’t train a lot [in] these moments we have a lot of games so there’s not really a time to do a lot in training, it’s mostly about tactics and getting ready for the next game."
With Haaland now adding creativity to his astonishing goalscoring record, he is beginning to look like the complete picture as a No. 9.
"What is a complete striker?" asked Akanji. "If he’s scored over 40 goals and the season is not already over I think, you already have the answer."
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