Erling Haaland was on the scoresheet to end his four-match drought for Manchester City. The Norwegian striker helped the English club retain the top spot in the Premier League before Pep Guardiola came out in support of his striker.
The City number nine smashed a fantastic low finish from 20 yards out to end his mini drought of three Premier League without a goal. The drought extended to four games when Haaland didn’t score against RB Leipzig in the UCL.
For other strikers, it is common to go four games without scoring a goal, especially in all competitions, however, Erling Haaland isn’t a normal striker. The mini drought started some murmurs within the British media about the effectiveness of Haaland without Kevin de Bruyne.
Pep Guardiola, Manchester City manager, also commented about the drought after the win over Brighton: “The expectations are so high but he handles it really well. He knows he could have scored even more goals in the first nine Premier League games.”
🇳🇴 Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland: “The expectations are so high but he handles it really well”.
“He knows, he could’ve scored even more goals in that group stage, nine PL games… he could’ve scored more goals than last season”. pic.twitter.com/MBMmynJ860
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 23, 2023
Guardiola acknowledged the Historic treble of the previous season and the adjustment required in the current season: “The Treble had a lot of influence on all of us, me included. We need to be there close and arrive in the final decisive months close to our opponents to try again.”
Guardiola was in the headlines recently when he commented about the chances of Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi in the upcoming Ballon d’Or awards. The Spanish manager was labeled as a traitor by some fans with his comments that favored Lionel Messi.
Manchester City will now travel to Switzerland to play Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League. They currently lead the Group G table with six points with two victories in two games.
Erling Haaland slams Norwegian media after ending his goal drought
Haaland not only silenced his critics with his on-the-field performance, but he also took some actions to acknowledge his critics off the field. The striker took to Instagram to address Norway’s TV 2 after ending his goal drought.
Norweigan TV channel TV 2 ignored the incredible goal from the imposing striker and rather focused on his spat with Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke. They highlighted the altercation by posting the clip on social media, which didn’t go down well with Haaland.
A solid performance from the team, let’s build on this! Thank you for the support yesterday, Citizens 💙 pic.twitter.com/5J75rAbPTa
— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland) October 22, 2023
Haaland took it to Instagram to upload a story where he addressed the reports. He wrote in Norwegian: “What argument? Better write about the fact that I finally ended the goal drought of all time. Clowns.” The Striker wasn’t happy about the fact that his goal-scoring performance was ignored for his minor altercation with his opponent.
Erling Haaland now has nine goals from 13 matches, as well as two assists. He is yet to open his scoring in the UCL this season and will keep his target lock to open his account when he lines up to face Young Boys in the midweek fixture on Wednesday, October 25.
