Manchester City have been criticised for not getting the best out of Erling Haaland after the Norwegian hotshot had his quietest game for them.
The 22-year-old drew a blank in the Citizens’ 1-0 defeat away at Tottenham on Sunday as the visitors failed to close the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal.
And Haaland struggled in north London, with the Norway international an anonymous figure as he got no service from his teammates.
As well as failing to have a shot in the match – the first time he’s failed to do that in the league as a City player – he didn’t have touches in Spurs’ box.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher questioned whether Haaland made the right choice in joining City when he left Borussia Dortmund last summer.
That is despite Haaland already scoring 25 top-flight goals from his opening 20 appearances.
Carragher said: “He’s still well ahead in the top goalscoring ranks, but I think we’re only seeing 60 per cent of Erling Haaland.
“You think of that goal he scored at West Ham in the first game of the season, where there’s just space in behind, he makes that run.
“Now I know that’s not there that often because of the way City play, but he’s come from a league with Borussia Dortmund where it’s a counter-attacking league.
“It’s end-to-end and you see that blistering pace that he’s got – we don’t see it. And he may have actually picked the wrong club to actually get the best out of him.
“What I’m saying is, we’re not seeing everything of Erling Haaland, and Manchester City now, not because of Erling Haaland, we can say that they’re a different team.
“But, they’ve scored exactly the same amount of goals, he’s got 25 Premier League goals, but Man City as a team have still scored the same amount of goals.
“But they’ve conceded more and it’s far easier to counter-attack them as well, so they’re a different team – and a lesser team – with Erling Haaland in the team.
“But again, it’s not his fault. Manchester City as a team will not play end-to-end football, it’s not Pep Guardiola‘s way.
“His players don’t have the energy, or the power or the pace to play end-to-end, they build up slowly and they push the opposition back to the edge of the box and they play from it.
“And when they lose it, they win it back quickly and they keep people hemmed in. Now Erling Haaland will still score 25 Premier League goals, a lot of those are coming across and he’s put them in.
“But we’re not seeing the full package of what this player can do because of the team that he’s actually gone to.”
City right-back Kyle Walker came to the defence of Haaland following the defeat, as he stressed the striker is still adjusting to Guardiola’s tactics.
He told Sky Sports: “It’s a process. He’s come to Manchester City and it’s a difficult team to fit into as the manager demands so much and the way we play.
“It’s unique. Erling has been fantastic. No-one says anything when he’s scoring goals and winning.
“All of sudden now when we don’t win and he doesn’t score, they say ‘is it the problem, do we play better without him?’
“I hear it all the time. But no-one is complaining when he’s scored his 25th goal of the season. This is the team we’ve got now until the end of the season. We’ll fight until the end.”
City’s defeat leaves them still trailing Arsenal by five points following the Gunners’ shock 1-0 defeat at Everton on Saturday.
SOURCE: talksport.com
