Manchester City’s woeful run of form continued with a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa in the Premier League and Erling Haaland gave a brutal assessment of his own performances.
Pep Guardiola’s side have now lost nine of their last 12 matches in all competitions, including six defeats in the Premier League, after being beaten at Villa Park.
Jhon Duran opened the scoring in the first-half after Youri Tieleman’s inch-perfect through ball released ex-City youngster Morgan Rogers who squared for Duran to finish past Stefan Ortega.
Rogers got on the scoresheet himself after the interval and Phil Foden’s first Premier League goal of the season in injury time proved to be little more than a consolation for Guardiola who is still searching for the solution to City’s recent slump.
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It was another game where last season’s top goal scorer Haaland struggled to have any impact, The having just one shot and one touch in the opposition box, both coming in the 90th minute.
He was practically non-existent with 18 touches in total and just eight passes completed; Haaland has just three goals in his last ten league appearances.
Guardiola refused suggestions from journalists prior to the defeat that City would be better served reverting to a ‘false nine’ system used prior to Haaland’s arrival at the club and insisted the reigning champions were a better team with the Norway international in the side.
And now, speaking after the game, Haaland has issued a brutally honest verdict of his recent showings.
“We have to continue working,” Haaland told TNT Sports. “The first thing I am looking at is myself, I have not been doing things good enough, have not been scoring my chances and everything.
“I have to be better. There is a lot on me and I’ve not been good enough.
“We know how important confidence is. You can see it. It affects every human being [but] we have to continue. We have to stay positive even though it is difficult. We have to keep working hard.”
Haaland backed his manager to turn things around with the January transfer window fast approaching.
He added: “He’s won the Premier League six times in seven years. We can never forget that.
“He will find the solutions. He’s been doing that every year, apart from one. We still believe in him and we have to work harder than ever right now.”
City fans have been hoping to see Guardiola break his unwritten transfer rule of not signing players in the winter window, Aymeric Laporte remains the only player he’s signed in January since arriving at the club.
The club have been linked with various midfielders with star man Rodri expected to miss the entire season with injury but according to The Athletic’s Sam Lee neither Newcastle star Bruno Guimaraes or Real Sociedad maestro Martin Zubimendi are being targeted when the window opens in the New Year.
He wrote on X: “At the risk of causing a meltdown before I go, City sources are indicating that neither Bruno Guimaraes or Martin Zubimendi are targets for January.”
Guimaraes signed a new contract at Newcastle in October 2023 while Zubimendi rejected the chance to join City’s Premier League rivals Liverpool in the summer.
Topics: Manchester City, Premier League, Erling Haaland, Pep Guardiola, Aston Villa, Phil Foden
Marcus Banks