Until the ninth matchday, everything was fine at Manchester City, then an unprecedented downturn followed, which is also linked to Erling Haaland – even though Pep Guardiola blames everyone.
Manchester City won the league four times in a row and were on course to finish top again this season. Erling Haaland got off to a flying start with ten goals in the first five matchdays (including two hat-tricks). Until October 9 and matchday nine, everything was going perfectly. ManCity were top of the table and unbeaten.
What happened after that is hard to explain, even though the team’s key strategist, Rodri, is missing through injury. Pep Guardiola’s team have since lost an incredible nine of their last twelve games. That’s as many defeats as they had in their 106 games before that.
You would think that experienced players are needed now. But the team is not lacking in that. On the contrary, the players used are 27.5 years old on average (for comparison: Chelsea, currently second in the table, has an average age of 23.9 years and is therefore by far the youngest team in the Premier League). So the question remains as to why. In any case, Haaland has recently lost his eye for goal. Although the Norwegian is still the second-highest scorer in the Premier League with 13 goals this season, he has only scored twice in eight league games.
Haaland blames himself
“I blame myself,” Haaland castigated himself after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa. “I didn’t take my chances. I have to improve, I wasn’t good enough.”
Guardiola, however, did not want to hear any of that at the press conference before the game on Thursday (1:30 p.m.) against Everton. “It’s about us, not just one player,” he said when asked about Haaland. “When we scored goals in the past, when Erling was so accurate and helped us, it was because of the team. But when you have problems in defense and midfield, it’s about the whole team. Not just one player. If it were just about one player, it would be easy to find the reason.” Haaland just has to be put in a better position by the whole team.
Guardiola: ‘The situation is new for all of us’
Guardiola also defended his team and did not allow any criticism. “This situation is new for all of us,” he said, but emphasized: “The boys are running and trying harder than ever before. People say we don’t run, we don’t fight, it’s because of this player, this coach – that’s not the point.”
And what is the point? “We haven’t scored the goals we scored before and we’ve conceded the goals we didn’t concede,” Guardiola told the BBC after the defeat at Aston Villa. Quite simply, that means scoring more goals and conceding fewer. And the last two games of 2024 against Everton and at Leicester on Sunday should come at just the right time.
