Stewart Robson believes Erling Haaland had a negative impact on how Kevin De Bruyne performed against Liverpool.
While much of the talk in the build-up to Manchester City’s 1-1 draw against Jurgen Klopp’s side was around how Haaland and De Bruyne could wreak havoc upon the injury-riddled hosts at Anfield, neither had a game to remember.
After the contest, Pep Guardiola admitted that he decided to take the Belgian maestro off in place of Mateo Kovacic as City were in desperate need of retaining possession.
Stewart Robson says Manchester City striker Erling Haaland impacted how Kevin De Bruyne played against Liverpool
Arguably the most frightening duo in world football failed to have much of a say against a Liverpool defence, who were operating at their brilliant best on Sunday.
Of course, De Bruyne set up Stones’ opener with an intelligent corner but barring a few potshots from range, he too did not have his finest of outings.
However, Stewart Robson firmly believes that how uninvolved Erling Haaland was against Liverpool had an impact on how Kevin De Bruyne fared.
“When they went longer, to get Kevin De Bruyne in the game, it had to go into [Erling] Haaland and Haaland to Kevin De Bruyne, not the other way around. Haaland, for me, didn’t show up enough, didn’t win enough balls that were played up to him and didn’t show enough”, he said [via ESPN FC].
“Usually, it doesn’t matter but if the opposition want to dominate midfield and are pressing you high up, you’ve got to bypass that and go into your centre-forward and he didn’t do enough, which didn’t allow Kevin De Bruyne to show his skills as well.”
Harsh to blame Erling Haaland
Considering how sensational a player Kevin De Bruyne is, for Stewart Robson to imply that he depended on Erling Haaland to have an impact against Liverpool is a stretch, in our view.
Ultimately, the problem for City was that they were far too sloppy and rushed in possession and as a result, they struggled to hand the ball to their two biggest attacking threats on Sunday.
After all, Liverpool were the more dominant team in possession against a City side who tend to have the lion’s share of the ball against every team they come up against.
As a result, De Bruyne’s underwhelming display has less to do with the £51 million (Sky Sports) man and more to do with the team’s collectively poor display alongside his sloppiness on the ball as well, as his decision to be far too direct or just play wayward passes did not help his team as well.
