Manchester City have been told they don't look like the same team with Erling Haaland up front, despite his spectacular goalscoring record this season.
The Norway international has scored a whopping 32 goals in 32 appearances for City since arriving from Borussia Dortmund over the summer.
Haaland is the Premier League's top goalscorer by quite a distance, with 26 goals and an astonishing four hat-tricks to his name.
City aren't in the best of form, however. Pep Guardiola's side sits second in the league and drew 1-1 with RB Leipzig in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie on Wednesday evening.
Advert
Haaland wasn't involved much at the Red Bull Arena thanks to an immense performance from Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol.
TalkSPORT pundit and former City midfielder Didi Hamann believes the 22-year-old doesn't suit Pep Guardiola's system regardless of what his goal record leads you to believe.
He explained: "With Haaland in the team, they [City] don’t dominate teams as they used to do. They used to suffocate teams with possession, creating chances.
"The thing that worries me is that with Haaland – and the game at the weekend where they were winning and the same happened yesterday – when they play on the counter attack and are able to use his pace, they can’t get him in the game. That what worries me most at the moment about City."
City have won four of the last five Premier League titles and did so last season without an orthodox striker. Club legend Sergio Aguero departed for Barcelona, with Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane earmarked as a potential replacement.
Spurs priced City out of a move for Kane so they used Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva, among others, in a false nine role last term.
Haaland's arrival was believed to be the final piece of the jigsaw when it comes to City winning the Champions League. Europe's elite competition has eluded City, who lost the 2021 final to Chelsea.
Hamann continued: "There’s a question of whether he does make the team better? He’s a brilliant player, it’s not a criticism he’s a brilliant player he already showed it.
"Last season, when everyone said he’s going to City, I said ‘he’s not going to go to City because Haaland is everything City’s not’.
"Maybe you can say he’s the missing piece of the jigsaw but he’s used to football in Salzburg and Dortmund which is so much different from the one City plays.
"It’s just not possible because Guardiola’s philosophy is he wants to pass the ball, he wants to suffocate teams with possession and dominance and they just won’t do it with him because half the time I watch him, it’s like playing with ten men."
Topics: Erling Haaland, Manchester City, Pep Guardiola
Daniel Marland