Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland’s critics are playing a dangerous game over Man City’s missed opportunities

Erling Haaland missed big opportunities in Manchester City’s last two matches, but Pep Guardiola does not consider the striker at fault.

Pep Guardiola has come to the defense of striker Erling Haaland, telling anyone who doubts his finishing ability that they will soon eat their money.

Haaland has seven goals and two assists in seven appearances for Manchester City this season, continuing his incredible goalscoring form since his arrival. But in his last two outings against West Ham and Red Star Belgrade, the striker missed nine big chances, including two from close range at the London Stadium and a header that hit the crossbar in the Champions League.

When Haaland scored against West Ham and assisted Julian Alvarez in the 80th second against Red Star in the second half, people couldn’t help but notice that he could score 10 goals in two games.But Guardiola warned that anyone who criticizes Haaland is playing a dangerous game.

“My advice is don’t criticise Erling too much. Criticise the full back, the central defender or the manager, but never, never the striker who scored all those goals because he will (score) and then you will be in a position where you have to apologise to him.”

Guardiola confirmed Haaland’s fitness has been managed in training since the start of pre-season after playing all the way until June 10 in the Champions League final with only a short break to recover before pre-season. “Every week he is better and everything is there. He is an incredible threat.

“He has had a lot of chances and that means we are playing good. Always I have the sense that the team is doing quite good by the number of chances Erling has. When he is not involved in chances, then something wrong has happened with our process and dynamic.

“We created a lot of chances and the ball is there and that means we are doing a lot of good things. It has to continue. Always he is there. He has scored a lot of goals in the past and the present and it will happen in the future.”

While Man City have scored against West Ham and Red Star with 56 shots in the last two matches, of which 31 were on target, Guardiola is not concerned about any notion of waste from his players. himself, insisted that the fact that chances were being created meant his team would continue to score goal. evolution.

“It’s football. You ask why and I’ll say it’s football,” he added. “Maybe one day we will create less chances, but he will have three shots on target and three goals. I like that better.

“I said the same thing in the first half against West Ham, the score was disappointing but the way of playing was not. Be more aggressive in front of goal, show a scoring mentality, for that I want to win the match. “We have the quality. Phil has the quality to score goals, of course Erling, don’t go crazy.