Pep Guardiola greets Manchester City's Norwegian striker #09 Erling Haaland
Pep Guardiola is over-reliant on Erling Haaland
It was a remark that has returned to haunt him on a few occasions – the latest occurring last weekend – but Pep Guardiola had a point when he once referred to Spurs as the “Harry Kane team”.
But seven years on from that line, if someone referred to Manchester City as the “ Erling Haaland team”, the suggestion could not be dismissed lightly.
Guardiola’s defensive issues are obvious. This is a City side that now looks like conceding every time the opposition mounts a counter-attack. And opposition threats still normally come from counter-attacks.
During this six-game winless streak – five defeats followed by that embarrassing draw with Feyenoord – City have had the majority of possession in every match. Percentage-wise, the figures have been 69, 65, 73, 61, 58 and 64.
[
Pep Guardiola details Man City excuse he refuses to use ahead of Liverpool fixture](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/pep-guardiola-mancity-injuries-liverpool-34219926)
[
Jamie Carragher changes his tune on Liverpool opinion ahead of Man City fixture](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jamie-carragher-mancity-liverpool-prediction-34219854)
In every match, they have had more attempts on goal than their opponents. Thirteen to 10, 14 to 10, 12 to 8, 12 to 8, 16 to 9, 11 to 8.
That means, in the six-match stretch, City have had a combined 78 attempts on goal compared to their opponents’ combined 53 attempts. But in that time, City have scored only seven goals while their opponents’ tally is 17.
In their past seven seasons – six of which have been title-winning seasons – City have averaged over 2.5 goals per Premier League game. This season, they are averaging 1.8 goals per Premier League game. And Haaland accounts for one of those goals every game.
Simply put, if Haaland is not clinical, the champions are in trouble. And Guardiola must know that one of the drivers of this slump is the lack of variety in the goalscoring charts.
Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland has a lot of expectation on his shoulders ( Image: Getty Images)
In his first two full Premier League seasons, Haaland topped the scoring charts with 36 in 2022/23 and 27 in 2023/24. In those seasons, City scored 94 Premier League goals and 96 respectively. Yet with 99, they scored more in the season prior to Haaland’s arrival… but the top-scorer, Kevin de Bruyne, had a tally of only 15.
The burden was shared. Now, it falls squarely on Haaland. The lack of goals from what you would automatically consider to be potent attackers is alarming. Phil Foden has not scored a Premier League goal this season, Bernardo Silva has not scored a Premier League goal since early January, Jack Grealish has not scored a Premier League goal – or any other type of goal for his club – in 2024.
Sitting in joint second place with Mateo Kovacic in City’s Premier League scoring chart this season is Josko Gvardiol, with three goals. Which is just as well because he has probably been responsible for at least as many being conceded.
Manchester City are in the worst form they've experienced under Pep Guardiola
Before Haaland’s arrival, one of the impressive characteristics of Guardiola’s City was how the scoring responsibilities were shared. In the title-winning team of 2020/21, Ilkay Gundogan was the top-scorer with 13. In 2017/18, City scored a remarkable 106 goals but a haul of 21 was enough to make Sergio Aguero the leading marksman.
The obvious issue with Haaland is that if he is not scoring, he struggles to make a significant contribution to Guardiola’s style of play. But he is undroppable. And one of City’s priorities in the coming months will be to try and persuade Haaland to sign an extension to a contract that ends in the summer of 2027.
But in the meantime, amongst many other problems he needs to solve, Guardiola needs to find a way. He needs to find a way of winning matches that is not wholly dependent on the level of one man’s ruthlessness. He needs to make it clear that Manchester City is not just the Erling Haaland team.
Join our new WhatsApp communityand receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read ourPrivacy Notice.