Several Manchester City players have been involved in recent Nations League matches with their international sides.
After seeing more of their players (14) get selected to go to the 2024 European Championship than any other Premier League side, City have now seen a lot of their squad members feature in this international break’s round of fixtures.
Now – however – one particular figure from Pep Guardiola’s side has found himself on the end of some hefty criticism for his efforts in a recent international match.
Erling Haaland slammed for recent Norway performance
Speaking on TV2 after seeing Norway draw 0-0 with Kazakhstan, former Norway manager Egil Olsen had this to say about what he saw from Erling Haaland on the day.
He said: “We have two world-class players in the team.
“Today Erling Braut Haaland was unfortunately far below par. It’s one of the worst things I’ve seen from Haaland.
“Martin Odegaard flashes at times, but I have also seen him better.”
Haaland had a bad day at the office
Having scored seven goals in his first three Premier League games for City, Haaland was backed by Darren Bent to break his own record for the number of goals he’s bagged in one league campaign.
Completing the full 90 minutes against Kazakhstan, Haaland had 18 touches of the ball in total.
Registering four shots at goal, all of them were off-target, with one of them hitting the woodwork.
The striker also lost possession of the ball for his team on six occasions, ultimately earning himself a rather underwhelming overall match rating of 6.8/10 from SofaScore.
This made him the lowest-rated outfield player in the Norway side, which shows why Olsen was so disappointed by what he saw from Haaland on this occasion.
Bearing in mind the top form the striker headed into this international break in, it’s understandable why Olsen says Haaland was below par in this game for Norway.
