Dwight Yorke has gone as far as to say that Erling Haaland is “failing” this season.
On beIN SPORTS (03/12/2023), the pundit made this claim because Haaland does not have the same number of goals as he did at the same stage during the 2022/2023 campaign.
This conversation kickstarted after the Manchester United hero revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson told him that he “failed” after he scored fewer goals than in his previous season, despite being Manchester United’s top goalscorer in both campaigns.
Dwight Yorke says Erling Haaland is “failing” this season
At the same stage last season, the £51 million (The Times) man had scored 17 goals in the Premier League and five in the Champions League.
While this term, Haaland has registered 14 goals in the league and five in Europe’s elite competition.
As a result, Dwight Yorke believes Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is “failing” so far this season.
Richard Keys asked, “Is Haaland failing now because he’s behind the standards he set last year?”
Dwight Yorke replied, “Yeah.”
Andy Gray followed up, asking, “If they don’t win the treble and Haaland gets, what did he get, 52 [goals] last year? Say he gets 35 this year and they win the league but don’t win the FA Cup or the Champions League, has Haaland failed?”
Dwight Yorke said, “Of course!”
He added, “Well, now I do [count that as failure], yeah. When I think of what the greats of the game have done, like [Cristiano] Ronaldo and the consistency of Mo Salah and those type of guys, they keep hitting that number and beyond, I think I get it. I really do.”
Erling Haaland can do better but to say he is failing would be ridiculously harsh
If Dwight Yorke had made the point that at times this season, Erling Haaland has been extremely wasteful for Pep Guardiola’s men in front of goal, that would be a fair assessment.
That has been the case in several games this campaign, such as in Manchester City’s latest 3-3 draw against Tottenham Hotspur, in which the 23-year-old missed two gilt-edged chances.
But to say Haaland is failing in any way, shape or form this season would be ridiculously harsh.
Despite Kevin De Bruyne’s absence, who is City’s primary chance creator, the Norwegian is the top scorer in the Premier League and the joint-highest goalscorer in the Champions League.
As far as all competitions go, Erling Haaland is only three goals behind his tally last season.
While the treble-winner has not been as clinical as he was during his debut campaign at the Etihad Stadium, to be overly critical of him is unnecessary.
