Pep Guardiola felt Erling Haaland was wrong to slam his own performances in front of goal after Manchester City’s season took another turn for the worst at Aston Villa.
Unai Emery’s side beat Guardiola’s beleaguered champions 2-1 thanks to goals from Jhon Duran and one-time City youngster Morgan Rogers.
Phil Foden pulled a goal back deep into stoppage time — the 2023/24 PFA and FWA Player of the Year’s first Premier League goal of this season.
The form and fitness struggles of Foden and others have meant City’s goal burden falling almost entirely upon Haaland the hulking Norwegian is showing increasing signs of buckling under the strain.
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How many goals has Erling Haaland scored this season
Two-time Golden Boot winner Haaland stormed out of the blocks with 10 goals in his first five games, including hat-tricks against Ipswich Town and West Ham. Despite starting all 12 of City’s subsequent league games, the 24-year-old has only scored three times.
Haaland is far from the only star in an injury-hit squad struggling for form. The defeat at Villa reduced City to their ninth defeat in the past 12 matches across all competitions, with a solitary 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest their only respite during this period.
Speaking to TNT Sports after Saturday’s defeat, Haaland said: “We have to continue. The first I’m looking at is myself. I haven’t been doing things good enough, I haven’t been scoring my chances and everything, so we have to do better. It’s a lot on me. I haven’t been good enough.”
What did Pep Guardiola say about Erling Haaland?
Informed of his star forward’s comments after the game, Guardiola replied: “I don’t agree with him. Without him he it would be even worse but I like players to be that way. It’s the only chance we have to get better.
“There are two options: like I judge myself, the only other situation is to blame your side. That depends on them. I don’t agree with Erling because he tried and he needs to be delivered the right balls in the right spots but now we recover and we fight for the next one.”
The next one for City is a home game against Everton on Boxing Day. That begins a run of what look like relatively more winnable fixtures on paper, although there are no longer an guarantees for a side that lost only eight of the 106 matches preceding this dismal slump of nine defeats in 12.
