Joleon Lescott believes one Manchester City player caused Virgil van Dijk more problems than Erling Haaland on Sunday.
Manchester City held on for a draw in what was billed as a potentially Premier League-deciding match with Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola’s side had taken the lead when John Stones turned in a well-worked Kevin De Bruyne corner in the first half.
But Liverpool fought back and drew level through an Alexis Mac Allister penalty.
Both sides had great chances to win the game but it finished all square and the Premier League title race has been blown wide open as a result.
Erling Haaland had a quiet afternoon against Virgil van Dijk but did manage to get one shot away after taking the centre-back on one-on-one.
However, Joleon Lescott was more impressed with how Van Dijk dealt with Phil Foden, who he thinks caused him much more trouble.
Joleon Lescott on Phil Foden and Virgil van Dijk
Speaking on Van Dijk’s performance for LiveScore on TikTok, Lescott said: “He was solid, very solid.
“Erling Haaland scenario I believe was overhyped for me, because that’s not Erling Haaland’s strength.
“The most impressive bit is him getting back and tackling Phil Foden, who is very comfortable dribbling.
“They’re the moments I was looking at thinking, yeah Virgil’s in control of a lot.
“For me, that was more impressive than the one-v-one because Erling is isolated.
“There’s players behind him closing him down, that isn’t his strength. That’s the thing he’s probably least comfortable in front of goal.
“He definitely did well, controlled it. Even though he got a shot off, you still feel Virgil was in control.
“Overall game, his dominance, there were more incidents with Phil and more dribblers than Haaland.”
Erling Haaland’s performance
Haaland has come in for some criticism for failing to score in such a big game and not being involved much.
But some that is overblown, especially given his link-up play was actually quite good.
The Norwegian sensation didn’t have many opportunities to show it, especially in the second half in which City were penned into their own box, but he did have some good moments.
In particular, it was Haaland who held the ball up and then spread it out wide for Jeremy Doku when the winger hit the inside of the post late on.
An inch in the other direction and we would instead be praising Haaland’s excellent forward play to tee up a winning goal.
Haaland got involved as much as he could against a very difficult opponent and it’s up to his teammates to get him more involved, not the other way around.
