Jamie Carragher: “Haaland picked the wrong club”
Haaland has already scored 25 Premier League goals following his summer arrival at Manchester City, but struggled to make an impact during Sunday’s 1-0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.
And the 22-year-old failed to score a single shot or touch the ball in the Tottenham penalty area, as coach Pep Guardiola’s team missed an opportunity to reduce the difference against league leaders Arsenal.
While Haaland is still on course to complete the most prolific solo-scoring season in Premier League history, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher doesn’t believe Guardiola has yet figured out how to fully utilize the Norwegian striker’s potential.
“I think we’ve only seen 60 per cent of Erling Haaland,” Carragher explained on Sky Sports.
And he added, “You think about the goal he scored against West Ham when there was space in the back and he fell behind. I know it’s not there every time because of the way City play. He came from a counter-attacking [Bundesliga] league with space. You saw his blistering speed there – which you don’t see here.”
“Maybe he picked the wrong club to get the best out of it,” Carragher said.
Manchester City’s defeat means that despite their shock setback against Everton, Arsenal are still five points clear at the top of the Premier League with a game in hand.
The title holders are the competition’s top scorers, but despite Haaland’s individual success, Carragher feels the Norwegian’s joining Guardiola’s side has made Manchester City easier to exploit.
Carragher continued: “We don’t see everything in Haaland. City scored the exact same number of goals last season. Erling scored 25 of them and the rest of the City players in general scored the same number.”
He continued, “However, they have conceded more and it is easier to counterattack against them now. They are a different team with Haaland. This is not his fault. City will not play full football. This is not Pep Guardiola’s way. His players don’t have the energy or the strength to play this way – they build slowly, push the opponent into the penalty area and play from there.
And he ended: “When they lose the ball, they win it back quickly and keep the team steady. Haaland scored 25 goals in the league and a lot of them are goals that go into the penalty area and put in the penalty area, but we don’t see the full potential a player can do because of the team he’s in.
Source: The Independent
