Manchester City must take advantage of Erling Haaland's emphatic debut by continuing to build inter-squad relationships with the striker.
That is the view of defender Ruben Dias, who was named in the starting XI with Haaland at West Ham for City at the weekend. After a strong start from the hosts, City established their dominance, with two goals from Haaland securing the first three points of the season at a stadium where they have struggled in recent visits.
Haaland showed his clinical nature in winning a penalty before converting it cooly, and then timing his run to perfection from Kevin De Bruyne's pass and slotting under the goalkeeper to kill the game. Now, Dias has told his teammates to build on Haaland's debut by working with him on the training pitch and in games.
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“We are in the process of getting to know him and him getting to know us," Dias said.
"The games will allow to speed up the process. I'm very happy for him for having scored the two goals in his first Premier League game. It's going to be great for his confidence as well and for the team, because we know what he can give us."
Pep Guardiola spoke after the game of how City want to make Haaland a better player, and how there are still plenty of areas for him to improve - as well as how his performance showed the areas he will make the Blues better.
Dias feels that working on those areas, and showing them in-game settings in the coming weeks, is the only way to proceed, rather than thinking anything has been won after just one game, or that the Blues' long-standing striker problems have been instantly solved.
He continued: "We saw the sort of help Haaland can bring to this team. At this point, it is very important to play games together, that he adapts to us and we adapt to him and he feels more and more connected with the team. Despite all the individualities we have in the squad, this team only works if we work together as a team.
“It wasn't the perfect start. It's a good start, a solid start for us. We won the three points, which matters a lot for us. But winning the first game doesn't mean anything in the context of the whole season. It's just one game, we have just started the season and we have a lot of work to do. It's important to win the first game to gain confidence and help the team become more connected.”
Haaland himself alluded to the need to work hard on the training pitch to ensure he can score more goals like his two strikes vs West Ham.
"I am surrounded with amazing players and we have to build on today," he said. "We will become even better. It is still early on in the season and we have to get in shape for everything. It is a good start.
“I try to go out there and try to enjoy the beautiful game. In the end, it is my dream since I was young to live in this and to play in this every single week. It is about enjoying it. There were some good balls or goals and this will come even more. When we practice it a lot in training, we have to do it in the games and we scored some good goals today [on Sunday]."
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