Pundit Stewart Robson has said that Erling Haaland needs to improve his performances for Manchester City.
The striker ended his debut season at the Etihad Stadium by scoring 52 goals in 53 appearances across all competitions.
Having featured in the recent Community Shield defeat against Arsenal but failed to find the net, the City star has found himself on the end of some criticism by one pundit in particular.
Pundit says Haaland needs to improve
Speaking in a recent video on the ESPN FC YouTube channel, Robson had this to say about Haaland heading into the new season.
He said: “The player they need to start playing, because he didn’t play well in the last four or five games, and he certainly didn’t play well in the Community Shield, was Erling Haaland.
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“Yes, we know he can score goals, but I think he touched the ball 13 times, rarely when he touched the ball did he keep hold of it. He’s got to up his game in the first few weeks of the season that’s for sure.”
Even though the Norway international did score a ridiculous number of goals last season and broke numerous records in doing so, he only scored one goal in eight appearances across May and June.
In the Community Shield, with just 13 touches of the ball in 64 minutes, Haaland was only able to complete six of the nine passes he attempted and ended up losing possession five times.
This makes it easy to see why Robson has said that the centre-forward, who City paid £51m to sign last summer, may need to improve his performances.
Looking ahead to the upcoming season, which kicks off with City taking on Burley at Turf Moor tomorrow evening, as long as Haaland can score goals on a regular basis, there won’t be any issues with his performances.
However, if he does end up on a dry spell, more scrutiny will undoubtedly be coming his way.