The English title clash between Manchester City and Arsenal FC gave birth to a mouse on Sunday evening. A fairly mediocre match ultimately ended 0-0. A disappointing Erling Haaland was also unable to change that and that earned him a lot of criticism.
Haaland simply started in the starting lineup for the defending champions. But the highly acclaimed top striker experienced a non-match. The attacker didn’t get a single chance between the goal posts and kicked two balls wide. But his added value was also very limited in the field game.
For example, the striker as a point of contact had a passing percentage of less than 65%. He certainly did not create his own opportunities. And Haaland also failed to make good actions as a point of contact for his teammates.
Guardiola pokes back
Afterwards he was tackled harshly by analyst Roy Keane. “Today it was almost like watching a player from the fourth division. He really needs to work on his game, he needs to become an all-rounder,” the former Irish midfielder told Sky Sports.
However, those words were not appreciated by City coach Pep Guardiola. “I understand that journalists are so critical because they have never been on the field. I am always surprised by ex-professionals. Apparently something like this quickly disappears from memory, how difficult it is,” the Spaniard said at his press chat.
Support for Haaland
Guardiola then also came to the rescue for Haaland, who, according to his trainer, was simply not the cause of the loss of points. “He is the best striker in the world and thanks to him we won what we won last year. It was not Erling’s fault that we did not create enough chances against Arsenal. I watched the match again: we played exceptionally and simply missed more players in the decisive zone.”
