After Manchester City drew 1-1 to Chelsea on Saturday, Pep Guardiola gave his two cents on the display from Erling Haaland.
Robbie Mustoe claimed that usually, the Norwegian international tends to put away the whole host of chances he missed against Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
Erling Haaland was spotted shoving a camera away that was filming his disappointed reaction after the contest.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola gives honest verdict about how Erling Haaland played against Chelsea
It seemed like it was not Haaland’s day from his first miss, as he managed not to even get a close-range header on target after an excellent cross from Alvarez in the first half.
Soon after, Raheem Sterling opened the scoring for the visitors at the Etihad Stadium but even after the goal, the 23-year-old continued to fluff his lines in front of goal.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola defended Erling Haaland after his side took one point after facing Chelsea.
“I played for 11 years and scored 11 goals. One goal a season. I’m not a proper man to give advice to strikers. We create the chances and next time, he’s going to score. I don’t blame him. As a team and a group, the first half was not like we are”, he said [via journalist Simon Bajkowski on X].
Pep Guardiola chose his words wisely
Considering how massive a game it was between Manchester City and Chelsea, several managers, unlike Pep Guardiola would perhaps have called Erling Haaland out after his dismal showing.
But Guardiola realises that a scathing public assessment of Haaland’s display would only further dampen his confidence after a forgettable game for him.
The Catalan tactician needs Erling Haaland to dust himself off and get back in the swing of things during the business end of the season.
As a result, Pep Guardiola made the smart call, in our view to take it easy on Erling Haaland and analyse the team’s showing as a whole as at the end of the day, football is a team sport.
