Manchester City have been beaten by Liverpool in the Premier League – and Sky cameras picked up Erling Haaland’s reaction as the game petered out.
Manchester City’s tough week has concluded with a 2-0 loss at the Etihad Stadium, with Arne Slot’s side taking another big step towards the Premier League title.
In truth, City were not terrible against Liverpool, and actually did create chances. But the quality of the chances were not good enough.
But the difference was that Liverpool were clinical, and currently possess the best player in the world in Mo Salah.
The Egyptian is a total game-changer, and him turning up today was also going to spell trouble for a shaky City backline.
City could not call on their own game-changer in Erling Haaland, whose injury prevented him from even making the matchday squad.
Haaland did travel in with the team today. He sat with his teammates on the bench but obviously couldn’t be called on to play – and his reaction at the end of the game spoke volumes.
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Gary Neville shares what Erling Haaland would have been thinking as Man City lost to Liverpool
Perhaps today’s game might have had a different outcome had Haaland been fit and playing.
Ultimately, City did create chances. But there was no killer up top to make them count.
Omar Marmoush was lively, but spent a lot time peeling out to the left.
There was, as usual, plenty of trickery from Jeremy Doku, who Man City had hinted would start against Liverpool. But the Belgian couldn’t find the end product, which is a regular criticism of the Belgian.
As the game petered out, Sky cameras panned to Haaland sat just behind his teammates after yet another City attack failed to yield a goal.
Gary Neville was commentating for Sky Sports, and said: “The space where Haaland might have been and that’s the only thing for City today.
“He’s (Haaland) there, look, despondent. He knows that him missing (out) is a big, big problem for his own team. Head in his hands.
“It would have been great to see him out there today alongside Marmoush. I’m not saying it would have been a different outcome but, when you saw the team sheet and Haaland wasn’t on it, it was almost a feeling that this could be too much for City.”
Man City without Haaland is a concern
It was evident against Real Madrid in midweek that City are just not the same team without Haaland.
We all know the importance of Rodri to this team and he is a colossal miss in midfield.
But Haaland is also badly missed when he doesn’t play, given the world-class goalscorer that he is.
| Erling Haaland for Man City in 2024/25 |
| Appearances – 35 |
| Minutes played – 3077 |
| Goals – 27 |
| Assists – 3 |
Liverpool may still have won today even if the Norwegian had played. But City surely would have been much more threatening if these same balls had gone in and he was in there lurking.
Hopefully, there will not be too many more instances of Haaland missing out through injury.
Given how poorly this season is going, him being unavailable for any amount of time would be disastrous.
