Gary Neville believes one Manchester City player will have felt ‘terrible’ following Sunday’s Manchester derby despite the 3-1 win.
Manchester City’s unbeaten run was stretched to 19 matches as they vanquished their neighbours at the Etihad Stadium.
Marcus Rashford’s rocket had given Erik ten Hag’s a shock lead in the opening stages, though, giving City a lot of work to do.
The Blues dominated possession and created plenty of chances in the first half but failed to take them.
Andre Onana made a string of fine saves while Erling Haaland missed a remarkable sitter as he somehow put the ball over the net from three yards out.
Phil Foden took matters into his own hands after the break and scored a stunning brace to give Pep Guardiola’s side the lead.
Haaland would make amends for his miss in stoppage time but Gary Neville thinks he would still have felt bad about it afterwards.
Gary Neville says Erling Haaland would have felt ‘terrible’ after the derby
Neville was speaking on the Gary Neville podcast about the refereeing controversy for Liverpool’s winner over Nottingham Forest on Saturday and thought it was human error.
Which is when Haaland’s amazing miss came to mind: “We saw Erling Haaland today, didn’t we?
“Imagine if City for some reason, obviously they did win the game in the end and they deserved to win.
“But imagine if City draw this game and they lose the [title] by a goal at the end of the season or two points and Erling Haaland has missed that chance.
“Obviously, he gets the goal in the end and City get the three points but that’s for him a big human error, it’s as bad as it gets for him.
“He would have felt terrible for him, probably still will even though he scored.”
It might give ammunition to doubters
Haaland went on to get his goal, his 28th of the season, but may earn criticism from some quarters for not scoring when his side was losing.
Last week, Jamie O’Hara suggested Haaland was a flat track bully and didn’t score in the biggest games.
That was a ridiculous statement, of course, given Haaland has now scored three in two against United this season as well as against Liverpool and Chelsea.
Last year the 23-year-old bagged against Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham as well.
Haaland can certainly score against any level of opposition, as he’s proven time and again, but he has missed some good chances recently.
As well as against United, he missed several in the recent draw against Chelsea, the only points dropped in 2024.
It’s something he could do with improving a touch as it may cost City at some point if he doesn’t score when they are in trouble.
