Pep Guardiola joked that he was unhappy with Erling Haaland because he didn’t score a hat-trick in Manchester City’s Premier League win over Southampton.
Haaland scored City’s fourth after spurning two or three big chances – including one where he was one-on-one with Southampton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu but fired against the post.
“I’m so upset with him he didn’t score three goals, that’s why the petition is to sack him for the Premier League,” he joked.
“It happens [the first-half miss]. The expectation is so high people expect he’ll score three or four goals every game. In the end he was there to score it. He helped to keep the ball, fight. Erling played really good today too.”
Guardiola praised City’s general performance, saying they ‘behaved’ like he knows they can do, although he did point to misses from Haaland and other teammates to improve their taking of chances.
He said: “In general we played good, a team we struggled [against] last season, every time we played them. We changed a bit our setup and build-up. Much better, all the minutes played Bernardo and Rodri second half. We created chances, the people upfront could have been more clinical. It’s fine, after three days a game, the players react and behave again like who they are.”
Meanwhile, Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl also discussed Haaland, saying that City’s wealth of attacking options make defending so difficult even if Haaland was kept quiet for long periods.
Apex Football News 