After falling for the ninth time in 12 matches, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City further dent their chances of securing the Premier League title. But City’s striker Erling Haaland has backed the manager who has won the league for the team on six occasions in seven years.
“He won the Premier League six times in seven years, so we will never forget that,” Haaland said, showing confidence in his manager. “He will find the solutions. He has been doing that every single year. We still believe in him, we have to work harder than ever right now.”
Erling Haaland failed to perform up to his standards, not registering a single shot in their match against Aston Villa, and managing just one touch in the opposition box as they went down 2-1. Haaland also mentioned that there is work that needs to be done, and acknowledged his poor form recently.
“We have to continue [working to put it right],”
“The first [person] I’m looking at is myself, I haven’t been doing things good enough, I haven’t been scoring my chances and everything. I have to do better, it’s a lot on me and I haven’t been good enough.”
Guardiola backed the Norwegian striker and defended his recent form after his self-critical statements.
“I’m not agreeing with him. Without him we would be even worse. But I like the players feeling that way. It’s the only chance that we have to get better. There are two options: judge yourself or blame. I’m not agreeing with Erling because we tried and at the end he needs to be delivered the right balls in the right spots. We will recover and fight for the next one.”
Manchester City have won only one out of their last seven Premier League outings, and their loss against Aston Villa have now put them in the backseat of the race to defend their Premier League title this year and become champions for the fifth consecutive season. They are also knocked out of the Carabao Cup and have fallen outside the top four of the Premier League standings, potentially losing a spot in the Champions League next edition.
Manchester City’s next match would be against Everton on Boxing Day.
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