Erling Haaland has looked way off his usual best during Manchester City’s most recent matches, but Pep Guardiola does not believe his star striker is at fault.
West Ham’s form has improved over the past month or two, but if truth be told, Manchester City should have been recording a victory last Saturday.
Once again, Pep Guardiola’s team delivered another underwhelming performance with two many stale passes and some missed chances.
The club’s top scorer Erling Haaland still looked off the pace, leading to questions about whether he is fully fit or not.
However, Guardiola has sought to quash these rumours and instead explain what needs to happen to get the Norwegian firing again.
Pep Guardiola calls on Man City to deliver for Erling Haaland
With Haaland playing below his normal standards for arguably his third successive game, there are concerns about if he is feeling the effects of having to fulfil so many fixtures.
Despite this, Guardiola believes the centre forward is fine and the manager has called on his teammates to provide him with opportunities.
Guardiola told Beanyman Sports: “I didn’t see fatigue in the last 20, 25 minutes [against West Ham] from Erling [Haaland].
Erling Haaland playing striker, do you know how many central defenders today was there? Two hundred million. Do you know how many holding midfielders go close to the central defenders? It’s the most difficult position on the planet.”
He added: “We need to deliver. Wingers and [midfielders] need to put it there. Always we try when we arrive there look for Erling. It’s not easy. Sometimes we have a period like this and we have to accept it.”
Haaland is not at risk of being dropped by Guardiola
Omar Marmoush did a pretty good job when he replaced Haaland for Man City’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Newcastle United.
The Egyptian was restored to the starting lineup at West Ham and despite getting an assist, he was commanded to leave the pitch after just one hour.
This reaction from Guardiola shows that Haaland is still very much his number one and he is looking to his players to help the 25-year-old rediscover his form.
Haaland is not going to be dropped and it does not look like he will be rested either when the game is important, which most are at the moment.
Therefore, the Catalan boss will continue to demand that those playing around and behind Haaland provide him with the service he needs.
