– Not optimal – VG

Just updated

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Because before what will be a very hectic and demanding national team period with four Nations League matches in eleven days, Haaland answered how he assesses his own injury problems in the last year.

– It has not been optimal. I can say that right away. There have been little things here and there, he says in the introduction.

He certainly seemed very happy to be back with Ståle Solbakken & co. when he entered the podium earlier this week for the first time in a long time during a press conference hosted by the national team.

Maybe not so strange.

This time he is injury free and will finally play a counting international match. We have to go back to September to find out the last time it happened. He has in fact missed a number of qualifying matches for Norway since due to various interruptions. And for Dortmund, he has only played 30 games, all tournaments included, since the start of the season in August.

– Normally I should be at 40-50 games a year

Haaland seems to have reflected on the challenge. He says that he has found out several things throughout the season.

– From treatments I have received, things I have trained on and things I have done, and learned a lot about my body. I’ve still played a couple of games this year. I have scored a couple of goals, says the 21-year-old and smiles a little.

Before he gets serious.

– It has not been a complete disaster. But it has not been optimal. Normally I should be at 40-50 games a year. I have not done that this year. It is important to work to get to that level, he says.

– More vulnerable

The injury periods throughout the 2021/2022 season have been frequent and partly long-lasting.

First what was only referred to as a muscle injury in September. He was ready to play and was on the field a few games before things went wrong again. Then a sore hip flexor put him out of action for much of October and November.

VG spoke at the time with Erik Rosenlund, orthopedic surgeon and club doctor in Vålerenga since the 1980s. He took as his starting point the injury to the hip flexorsn.

The muscle is the one used when the leg is stretched far back and you have to pull. Quite important for a player type like Haaland.

– He’s fast. He is an athlete and he tries a lot. He is probably more vulnerable because of that, Rosenlund said.

– Often needs several years

Thor Einar Andersen was the A national team’s doctor for 12 years. He reminded on the occasion of the Haaland injury that there are not so many young players who play regularly week after week in international football.

– It is around one percent who play regularly in the big leagues. Young players often need several years to physically handle many games in one season and many seasons in a row, he said.

Train frustrated over injuries

But it was the injury in January that became long-lasting. The 21-year-old was out for almost two months. Again with a muscle injury. Then Dortmund also struggled from time to time.

Coach Marco Rose was obviously frustrated by the situation:

– We have played 50 percent of the season without our top scorer. It has in several games still held to victory, while other games have been difficult for us, he said at a press conference.

“When you lose such an important player in half the season, it will affect every team,” continued the Dortmund boss, who first got Haaland back on the field in March.

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– Specialized more in food

But it probably does not depend on the effort. Haaland has been aware that he is very concerned with his most important work tool on the football field: his body.

To Viaplay, he has talked about the balancing act and the art of maintaining his enormous speed, but still getting stronger. Until last year, he had gained eight kilos in muscle in one and a half years. He commented on it, among other things NRK.

– I took big steps there. I trained a lot more straight, and I trained at Zoom (video call service) all year and last year with a guy I know. I took steps there, and I specialize more in food, Haaland said, adding that nothing was better than putting on weight, but also being fast.

No one on the national team can comment

The question is whether Haaland has a special regime on the national team.

Media manager for the football masters, Morten Morisbak Skjønsberg, says that “they are talking about” how Haaland takes care of his body at a gathering, whether he has any special routines or requirements, and whether he does anything beyond the usual injury prevention program the other players is through.

Thus, neither doctor Ola Sand nor physiotherapist Thomas Ødegaard can answer in the case.

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Dortmund’s physio finished

One who can answer something is Jan Åge Fjørtoft. There are few experts who follow Haaland as closely as the Viaplay expert. He believes that the “injury focus” around Haaland is unvarnished. He therefore lists three key points that he believes explain why the soon-to-be Manchester City-ready player has had some injuries this season.

Fjørtoft believes an important point is that Haaland has been in an enormous physical development since he left RB Salzburg 2020 and on to Dortmund.

– He has a different body and it has changed extremely, the expert says and refers to the interview where Haaland himself talks about a weight gain of eight kilos in muscles.

Fjørtoft compares Haaland’s style as a fast Ferrari, at maximum speed all the time, with a car of the brand Lada. It does not go as fast there.

– The way he plays, the way he runs, his explosiveness. He becomes more vulnerable because of it, (because of his playing style simply) says Fjørtoft.

Fjørtoft also refers to an exciting statistic from the German Bundesliga. According to the expert, it states that Dortmund has a lot of injuries throughout the season. The proportion of injury days among the players – not just Haaland – among the blacks and yellows in Germany surpasses most competitors.

– He who has been a physiotherapist and responsible for injury prevention is not there next year. He had to go. Then it is possible to speculate, even though we do not have Haaland’s medical record, says Fjørtoft.

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– You may not believe everything you are told

Fjørtoft believes it is a paradox that Haaland has injuries, at the same time as he has never experienced a player more concerned with injury prevention.

He believes the national team striker gives the concept of the 24-hour athlete a whole new dimension and calls him extreme in detail. He also predicts better times in terms of injury.

– And it is only natural that young players learn along the way. In this case, Erling gets answers from the body all the time, he learns what he has to do and eventually in his career you know what you need, says Fjørtøft and concludes:

– Then you own your own injury situation, you have a better dialogue with the support system and may not believe everything you are told without talking to your body and other experts you have around you.

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