‘We still believe in him’: Haaland backs Guardiola to solve Manchester City crisis
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Erling Haaland said he is confident Pep Guardiola will solve Manchester City’s crisis after they fell to a ninth defeat in 12 matches, an alarming run in which they have won once. The Norway striker conceded he has been out of form but the City manager insisted his team would be worse off without Haaland.
City, who have won only one of their past seven Premier League matches, were beaten 2-1 at Aston Villa to leave them seriously off the pace in the title race, denting their hopes of becoming champions for a fifth successive season. City trail the leaders, Liverpool, who have two games in hand on them, by nine points. “He won the Premier League six times in seven years, so we will never forget that,” Haaland said of his manager. “He will find the solutions. He has been doing that every single year. We still believe in him, we have to work harder than ever right now.”.
A rotten run of results since the end of October has seen City exit the Carabao Cup and drop out of the top four, and has put them at risk of missing out on the Champions League last 16. Phil Foden scored a late consolation after goals from Jhon Durán and the former City midfielder Morgan Rogers consigned Guardiola’s side to an unprecedented sixth league defeat in eight matches.
Afterwards, Guardiola defended Haaland, who did not register a shot and had a single touch in the opposition box. “We have to continue [working to put it right],” Haaland said. “The first [person] I’m looking at is myself, I haven’t been doing things good enough, I haven’t been scoring my chances and everything. I have to do better, it’s a lot on me and I haven’t been good enough.”.
