Manchester City has to find new methods to include Erling Haaland, according to Pep Guardiola. The 22-year-old failed to score against United, the local rivals, last weekend as Erik ten Hag's Red Devils rallied from a goal behind to win 2-1 at a boisterous Old Trafford. The more obvious cause for concern for City, though, was Haaland's inability to participate in the match rather than the fact that he failed to score despite having already scored 21 Premier League goals.
The 22-year-old drew a blank against United at the weekend, as Erik ten Hag's Red Devils rallied from a goal down to win 2-1 at a bouncing Old Trafford. The fact that Haaland, who has 21 Premier League goals to his name, did not score was not the most obvious source of concern for City, but rather his inability to get involved in the game.
The Norwegian only touched the ball 19 times during the 90 minutes, several of them after diving deep into play during slow stages of the game. He only had one shot blocked during that time. Guardiola has conceded that the Premier League champions must find a way to integrate Haaland more into their lineup after City appeared less of a danger against a well-organized United.
Guardiola added, "At the moment we have that process because it is harder when teams are camped in their 18-yard box, but we do need to find him a little bit more, sure.
He had enough touches (against United), but you indeed have to look at him when you are scouting areas. But we'll carry it out. Of course, we played better against Everton, but they only had one shot on goal, and the result was a draw.
We always had that possibility, whether we played well or poorly. Although we can still do better, I believe that this is one of our strengths. We consistently put in good work. The Spaniard went on to add about City's recent inconsistency: "I would argue the inconsistency was in terms of results but not performances. In general, we played consistently, but not against Southampton.
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