Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola isn’t stressed over striker Erling Haaland and is certain he will reproduce last season’s goalscoring exploits. The Norway international drew an intriguing blank in his last outing for Manchester City, as the Premier League Champions were beaten 2-1 by Wolves.
Seldom since getting signed by Manchester City, Erling Haaland has experienced disappointing matches. Indeed, there have been events when he has been tranquil and not had many sights at goal yet he generally appeared to have the last laugh ultimately.
2-1 Wolves.
HEE-CHAN HWANG HAS GIVEN THEM THE LEAD VS MANCHESTER CITY AGAIN !!!! WOW !!!!! pic.twitter.com/yUFIDBakCb
— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐗 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) September 30, 2023
Regarding Haaland’s performance, Pep said that it’s not too much concerning. Against Wolves, he had a lot of chances to score goals. But he was marked well by Wolves players.
“It gets more difficult with five defenders, on the 18-yard box, there but not just for him for any player around the world” According to Pep. Haaland had scored from similar chances last season and he is still at the same level.
Earlier, Guardiola emphasized the fact that the media should not criticize Erling too much. Haaland scored 52 goals in an extraordinary debut campaign last season as City powered to the treble.
The Norwegian striker has already netted eight times in six appearances this Premier League. He is one of the favorites to win the Ballon d’Or this year alongside Lionel Messi.
Erling Haalnd drops an underwhelming performance, as Wolves beat Manchester City 2-1
Manchester City suffered their first loss in the 2023-24 Premier League season as Wolves beat them 2-1 at Molineux Stadium. Julian Alvarez was the only scorer from the Manchester City side. City pushed hard to avoid their first defeat of the season, but the Norwegian was unable to come up with the goods.
Erling Haaland had just one shot and 10 touches against Wolves on Saturday after being marked out of the game by Craig Dawson and Max Kilman.
In his defense, Pep Guardiola said: “It’s not easy when you have three players around you — a lot of players around him.” pic.twitter.com/EWSQk35FYd
— Futball News (@FutballNews_) October 1, 2023
Haaland could manage only one shot at the goalpost. He only had 10 touches throughout the entire match. Wolves opted to simply man-mark Haaland out of the contest. The 33-year-old Wolves defender Craig Dawson was rarely giving Haaland any chance to breathe. He choked out City’s charm and in doing so made an issue which requires fixing.
Pep will be aware of rivals hoping to duplicate this strategic mentality in the forthcoming games and Manchester City needs to track down an approach to keeping it from working out. Utilizing somebody like Julian Alvarez to redirect a portion of the strain off Haaland could be the way forward. However, Wolves did well to offset his statement generally on Saturday.
Erling Haaland has 11 goals in just 405 minutes against RB Leipzig…
A goal every 36 minutes 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/GwkMYKVb9M
— Ryan (@bernardooooV3) October 4, 2023
City will face RB Leipzig next in their Champions League group-stage match. Against RB Leipzig, Haaland has registered 11 goals in just 405 minutes of play. He would look to replicate a similar kind of performance and shut all the questions raised about his capability.
