Haaland didn’t have one shot on Sunday.
Jamie Carragher has suggested that Erling Haaland “may have picked the wrong club” after Manchester City’s defeat away at Tottenham.
Haaland played the full 90 minutes as a lacklustre City side failed to take advantage of Arsenal losing to Everton as Harry Kane’s record-breaking strike was the difference in north London.
The moment Harry Kane made history ⚽️
One of the best players in Premier League history pic.twitter.com/1t6KIUE5N6
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 5, 2023
After the game Carragher argued that Pep Guardiola’s side have become a “lesser team” after the arrival of a recognised number nine, despite the Norwegian scoring 31 goals in only 28 matches in all competitions.
City have scored the same amount of goals (53) as they did this time last season, but have conceded eight more (21) than they did 12 months ago (13).
“I’ve felt this season when he’s scored his goals, I think we’ve only seen 60 per cent of Haaland. You think of that goal he scored on the first game of the season against West Ham, the space in behind, he makes that run,” Carragher said on Sky Sports.
“I know that’s not there that often with the way City play. He’s come from a league and Borussia Dortmund where it’s a counter-attacking league and it’s end to end and you see that blistering pace. You don’t see it. He may have actually picked the wrong club to actually get the best out of him.
“We’re not seeing everything of Haaland and Manchester City now, not because of Haaland, you can say they’re a different team, but they’ve scored the exact same amount of goals.
“Haaland will still score 25 league goals and a lot of those are coming across and he’s putting it in. But we’re not seeing the full package of what this player can do because of the team that he’s gone to.”
"There is something fundamentally not right when you're not starting your strongest side"
Graeme Souness on Manchester City 😬 pic.twitter.com/gSAfmCzqBE
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 5, 2023
Graeme Souness argued that Guardiola needs to do more to find a solution and appeared to pin the blame on Haaland’s teammates as oppose to the forward.
He said: “Haaland is a top, top striker if you look at his movement in the box. I’m surprised they don’t do it because the wide players they’ve got are more than capable of knowing where he is, knowing the areas to hit.
Related links:
- Erling Haaland on why he studied ‘best in the world’ Jamie Vardy
- Non-league Ashton United make Erling Haaland loan offer to Man City
- Erling Haaland reveals he could have played for England
