Pep Guardiola reveals doubts over Erling Haaland's role in Man City system
By Tom Gott
Pep Guardiola has confessed that Manchester City must find a way to involve striker Erling Haaland in their build-up play after the Norwegian endured a tricky afternoon against Manchester United.
The summer signing sits atop the Premier League's scoring charts with a whopping 21 goals already, but Haaland has failed to score in his last three games in all competitions and questions have been asked of the Norwegian's fit in City's system.
He'd have just eight touches in a first half in which City struggled to get going and that was by no means the first time that Haaland has found himself on the outside of Guardiola's possession-heavy style of play.
While Haaland is obviously not in a worrying slump just yet, Guardiola conceded that City will have to find a new way of getting their striker involved in games.
"Maybe we have to find him a little bit more in the final third," he said. "We tried to drop him knowing [Luke] Shaw and [Raphael] Varane would follow him.
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"It’s not easy to create chances, United here the last few games concede one goal in the Premier League. We scored one, we had the last pass, the last cross, the last little bit moments, I give a lot of credit to United for the quality they have and the players they have.
"We behave good, we behave like the six years we had together. We monopolise the ball, and they defend and wait for the actions, they did in the right moment. It's not easy to defend 30 or 40 metres in front with their two guys."
City's defeat saw United close the gap between the two sides to just one point, with the Red Devils forcing themselves into the title conversation as goals from Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford completed a dramatic turnaround.