- Erling Haaland scored again on Saturday
- Pep Guardiola impressed by striker
- Explains why he needs help from teammates
Pep Guardiola has praised Erling Haaland, while highlighting what Manchester City can do better to assist the prolific goalscorer.
Jeremy Doku has stolen most of the headlines after his special performance against Brentford, and rightly so.
However, the winger was not the only player to deliver for Manchester City. Erling Haaland also landed on the scoresheet, and he assisted Omar Marmoush later on.
As a result, it is not pretty much all but confirmed that the Norwegian international will win the Premier League golden boot this season.
Erling Haaland praised by Pep Guardiola
With Haaland in such fine form, Guardiola has been impressed with the way he overcame a difficult patch.
The City manager is looking ahead to the future and has pointed out one way in which his players can help Haaland to be more involved across a whole match.
Speaking in his press conference after Man City’s win over Brentford, Guardiola said: “It’s incredible! There was a period where he was so tired when he came back from Norway qualification and struggled, but it’s for the amount of minutes.
“For example, I saw the minutes of [Ousmane] Dembele in PSG compared to Erling – he has 2,000 more!
“It’s a lot of minutes, and he carries on, and the moment Omar [Marmoush] was in AFCON. Erling always is Erling, a threat for opponents, set-pieces, sense of goal,” he continued.
“It’s just we have to bring more players closer to him when we arrive from sides, more players there, because we’ll score more and more goals.
“When he’s alone in the box, it’s so difficult for him to score!”
Haaland had to make the most of his few moments of possession
Despite taking more shots than any other player, Haaland only had 15 touches in total against Brentford.
This has become a common theme for the striker, who still managed to experience four big chances during the game.
Guardiola has spoken about this problem before, and clearly it is something which needs resolving in order to benefit City.
Haaland has shown how important he can be, but his role is limited when he is barely on the ball.
Guardiola has also been complimentary of Marmoush
While Haaland remained on the pitch for the duration of Saturday’s game, Omar Marmoush was brought on after an hour.
The Egyptian got his goal, and Guardiola was happy with what he saw from the Egyptian, saying: “It’s not easy because normally we play with one proper striker, and Erling [Haaland] is so important.
“But the contribution of Omar Marmoush always when he plays, the amount of goals, and the rate for minutes played is really good.”
Marmoush is only going to play every so often with Haaland fit and available. Still, it is assuring for Guardiola to know that he has another quality centre forward to call on.
With City’s busy end-of-season schedule, it could be that Marmoush sees more action, as Guardiola attempts not to demand an excessive amount his usual starters.
