Erling Haaland names two Man City teammates he has made 'frustrating' demand to
Erling Haaland has admitted he gets frustrated when his Manchester City teammates fail to spot his runs in attack and says he has talked to specific players for their help.
The Norwegian bulldozer has already scored 32 goals this season, setting all kinds of scoring records during his first few months at the Etihad Stadium.
However, there has been talk of City failing to progress as a team despite Haaland's extraordinary record, though they did leapfrog Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table on Wednesday night with a 3-1 victory at the Emirates.
Haaland has now revealed he wants his teammates to play passes in behind for him to chase more often, name-checking Rodri and Bernardo Silva as chief offenders during the recent 3-1 win over Aston Villa.
He told Amazon Prime: “It's frustrating. Either the players don't see me or thinks it's another good chance to do something else. It's up to other players around me. It's about chemistry. I've been here seven months, it's getting a bit to know each other. Really details, we know we're good players, there's other things I could have done better.
"For me it's more about in the game [vs Villa] I told Rodri 'please look for me in behind'. I said please. I also told Bernardo [Silva] to put it in behind, it didn't happen but things take time. When we learn each other proper, the balls will come. I still got a lot of balls. We want crosses and passes all the time.”
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Even with an extraordinary return of 26 goals so far in the Premier League - nine clear of closest competitor Harry Kane - Haaland added he believes he could have scored even more.
“For me the most important thing is chances and creating chances because that's a big step of scoring goals. I'm happy but there's more potential in this team. I'm not going to sound arrogant, of course I'm happy. It should have been more. I could have scored more of my chances, maybe had more chances. It's been as I thought, every game is a tough game. A tough competition, I enjoy being here, being in the middle of it, getting those knocks. I like it. It sounds psychopathic but I like getting knocks. It's good sometimes, we need it. I'm happy.”
City visit Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon and will be hoping title rivals Arsenal slip up in the day's early kick off at Aston Villa.