Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester Citysaid that his team must find a way to include Erling Haaland more in the game after the Norway international was reduced to a secondary role in Saturday’s Premier League derby loss against Manchester United (2-1), a result that put the ‘citizens’ 8 points behind the leaders, Arsenal.
Haaland, who only touched the ball 19 times at Old Trafford and he has no real chance, he has gone three games without scoring, while he has scored 27 goals in his first 21 games with the ‘citizens’. Now in total he has 21 in the Premier, where he is a ‘pichichi’. At the Etihad, against United itself, in October, Haaland achieved a hat trick and served 2 assists in an 8-3 win, with 35 touches and 6 shots.
The fact that City, 2nd in the table, are 8 points behind leaders Arsenaland eliminated from the FA Cup by Southampton in the quarterfinals, has sparked a debate about whether the arrival of the prolific Norwegian center forward, signed in the summer of 2022, has forced the ‘citizen’ team to change their style, after even previously acted without a pure ‘9’ in the two previous seasons.
Pep Guardiola continues to work on the integration of Haaland, who came to City from Borussia Dortmund for 60 million euros. “Right now we have this process because when teams are entrenched in their place, it’s harder, You still have to find him (Haaland), yes”Guardiola said of the 22-year-old Norwegian star.
It will be difficult for City to be consistent this season, especially after the World Cup, with a draw at home (1-1) against Everton and consecutive defeats against Southampton (2-0) in the Carabao Cup (2-0) and against Manchester United in the Premier (2-1). On the other hand, in their first match after Qatar 2022, they eliminated Liverpool in the round of 16 of the Carabao Cup (3-2) and in the English championship they beat Leeds (1-3) and Chelsea (0-1) . ). Chelsea themselves were eliminated (4-0) from the FA Cup.
But, for the Catalan coach, his change of system to accommodate Haaland is out of the question. “I would say that the inconsistency is in terms of results but not performance,” Guardiola explained.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
