Pep Guardiola identifies City’s Erling Haaland problem after giving an injury update

Etihad Stadium, Manchester – Pep Guardiola has explained what Manchester City needs in attacks without Erling Haaland after revealing that he does not know when the striker will return to action.

City lost 2-0 to runaway Premierliga leaders All the latest Liverpool -News | Premier League plan for 2024/25 | Latest Premier League top scorer location

“Target =” “> Liverpool on Sunday after a dispirable UEFA Champions League output towards Real Madrid in the middle week.

Haaland sat out both matches – his first absence from the Champions League or Premier League started the 11s this season – resident as an unused replacement at Santiago Bernabeu until they were not part of the match day team this weekend.

Guardiola’s men are fourth in the Premier League, over Newcastle on target difference, and their match to qualify for the next season Champions League leads them to Tottenham for the upcoming midweek round with furniture.

MORE: All the Latest Man City News | Premier League plan for 2024/25 | Latest Premier League top scorer location

What did Pep Guardiola say about Erling Haaland’s injury?

When asked when Haaland would be back in action, Guardiola was unable to offer a fixed answer, but did not exclude him out of the Spurs match.

“I don’t know. I want to know, but I don’t know, ”he said. “His knee, apparently he is not (badly) injured because the scans dictate that he is doing well, but he was not well.

“I have a feeling that it will soon be because he is training yesterday and making some really good movements, but he said he was not ready and we have to respect it. Hopefully he can be back for spurs.”

In Norway Superstar’s absence, Guardiola chose an attacking line-up against Liverpool.

Wingers Savinho and Jeremy Doku attached their respective full backs Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold when Kevin de Bruyne and Phil fucked in to support January signing Omar Marmoush.

But despite plenty of promising attacking moments and a marmoush goal excluded offside, City’s 16 shots on the target gave only 0.73 XG.

Can City play without Erling Haaland?

In the two seasons ahead of Haaland’s summer 2022 arrival from Borussia Dortmund, the game was played without a fixed central striker Guardiola’s signature tactic in the Premier League -title gains from 2020/21 and 2021/22.

However, their lack of threat this week showed how – very understandably – they became dependent on leading # 9 in world football.

Against Liverpool, Guardiola noted that the movements of attackers inside were not as sharp as they had to be after Savinho and Doku beat their men and occupied several defenders.

“I would say they defended really well. It would be easy for me to say yes (City missed Haaland), but it would be unfair to the players who played because they were unusual,” Guardiola said.

“I know the team we were playing against and we can make some mistakes in transitions, but how many times we were there (in Liverpool’s box)? Jeremy’s ability to attract one or two players and savinho, they (the other players) are free, and in that moment we have to be free and end the actions and we weren’t good enough.

“Jeremy had the ball and (trent) Alexander-Arnold and (Ryan) Gravenberch and Salah go there and even Szoboszlai. They were away from the defensive structure and we had to be free and end the action.”

MORE: Man City vs. Liverpool End result: Premier League results, statistics like Salah and Szoboszlai put Red’s 11 points ready

Jeremy Doku statistics in Man City vs. Liverpool

Doku, as several of his teammates, have had a stop-start season due to injuries, and his performance highlighted the good and the bad on a side that has been accelerated to a transition.

Only three players who started against Liverpool did so in City’s 2023 UEFA Champions League last win over Inter Milan. One of them was de Bruyne, who has not been the same player since the hamstring injury he suffered in Istanbul and composed two months later. The playmaker is out of contract in June when he turns 34.

The Bruyne Belgian teammate Doku finished 13 out of 18 dribbles in a merciless performance against Liverpool and was the most important factor in Alexander-Arnold, claiming the unwanted Premier League record to be dribbled past 11 times in the same game.

However, he also finished zero on five crosses and returned an expected assists (XA) figure of 0.11.

Haaland’s absence can only be part of the story here, Given Doku has noticeably never helped the productive marker since he came to City from Rennes in August 2023.

Savinho, on the other hand, has a total of seven Haaland targets this expression in the midst of justified questions about his own reliability in the last third. Guardiola believes both can be part of a bright future despite the city’s gloomy.

“Both Wingers were unusual, Savinho and Jeremy and all the young players. Apart from Kevin and Nathan (Ake), we were such a young team that will be the future of this club. We were doing really well, it was a tight game. We just missed being more creative in the last third, knowing it’s not easy.”

For all the eternal debate about his contribution to the overall spectacle and pearl -like eyes on his touch count, things will undoubtedly become much easier for Manchester City in the last third with Erling Haaland around.

MORE: Guardiola explains how to City ‘lost in the right way’ vs. Liverpool