Able to alternate the excellent and the less good this season, Manchester City struggled this Wednesday during the knockout stages of the Champions League against RB Leipzig. Pep Guardiola’s men did not show their best face, like Erling Haaland. But coach Pep is not worried about the performance of his player.
Pep Guardiola may innovate at each meeting, Manchester City is on alternating current this season. Monstrous in certain encounters, the Citizens trampling in others. Like this Wednesday evening against RB Leipzig in the Champions League. The T1 even had the audacity not to make any changes throughout the meeting, a first since 2016 in C1.
And one of the City players who best embodies this problem is undoubtedly Erling Haaland. The great Norwegian striker did not have the expected performance this Wednesday evening. He only touched 22 balls, including only 4 in the opposing area, addressed 15 passes, lost 3 balls and attempted a single shot without succeeding in shaking the net. In short, an evening to review for Haaland who has yet scored 32 goals in 31 games.
If the attacker seemed disconnected at times, his teammate Ryad Mahrez wanted to be reassuring: “The coach wants him to be more in the game, but he is a powerful attacker, who goes fast, we know his qualities. It’s not up to him to pick up, to go get the balloons. He’s not here to hit 70 balls a game.”
For coach Pep, no worries as he explained on BeIn Sports. “He brought much, much more than you can imagine. There was a game with a lot of assists and in the end you have to look for it more. Its not always easy. But yeah, he’s totally fit.”
In the absence of his best friend Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland had few exploitable balloons. And this is undoubtedly the biggest problem for Pep Guardiola. We will have to resolve this concern as soon as possible, because in the league, Arsenal have regained first place and in three weeks, there is a return match in the Champions League to be played. Coach Pep will have to rack his brains to get us a new tactical move.
