Pep Guardiola firmly believes that Manchester City are a better team with Erling Haaland as a part of the side.
Of course, City have won their last eight games in all competitions, scoring 24 goals and conceding only four.
Meanwhile, Erling Haaland has been sidelined with injury while Julian Alvarez has led the line, who got on the scoresheet twice against Burnley in their latest victory on Wednesday.
Pep Guardiola says Manchester City are a “better team” with Erling Haaland
As a result, some may even be tempted to question whether the treble-winners are a superior team without the £51 million (The Guardian) man featuring in their side.
After all, City have been purring in recent weeks despite Haaland being forced out of action due to injury.
However, Pep Guardiola disagrees with such theories as he believes a Manchester City side with Erling Haaland starting is always a better team than one without his presence in it.
“We’ve been really good [in] the past two months without him but with him, we are [a] better team and we are really pleased that he is back”, he said (via BeanymanSports’ YouTube channel).
Recent results have masked how much Erling Haaland has been missed
In our view, Pep Guardiola is spot on about how much Erling Haaland elevates this Manchester City side when he is starting proceedings.
While City’s recent results in all competitions have been excellent, it remains quite evident that they have missed him leading the line.
When Erling Haaland starts, Manchester City have the license to thrive when they take a much more vertical attacking approach and it gives them a lot more bite going forward, which has somewhat been lacking recently.
In addition, even in games where the Sky Blues do not create several chances, traits like Haaland’s movement and positioning are at such an elite level that he could still dispatch a couple of goals, which makes them a much more ruthless opposition to contend with during his presence.
Once again, such has not been the case in a majority of their recent fixtures in the Premier League, at least.
Also, Manchester City have not looked as lethal in transitions in recent weeks and a huge reason why that has been the case is due to the Norwegian’s absence, who has elevated them to unforeseen levels as a counter-attacking side since his arrival in the summer of 2022.
Haaland adds far too much to this City side for them to be superior when he is unavailable.
