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Pep Guardiola understands Erling Haaland frustration & takes the blame for touch numbers.
Erling Haaland lack of touches is something for which Pep Guardiola is willing to take responsibility, and Manchester City is aiming to increase his playing time.
Haaland has already scored 32 goals in all competitions this season, so the notion of him seeing even more of the ball for the defending champions should make Premier League defenders shudder.
The Blues are still adjusting to having an out-and-out N.9 available to them again, and questions have occasionally been raised about his adaptability to Guardiola’s tactical approach due to the odd game where he hardly had a kick.
Guardiola has said of Haaland not seeing the ball as much as he would like, with his runs in behind often not being spotted: “It’s our fault. Erling has been good all season. It’s not metrics, when I finish the game one second later I know if he was involved or not and who should be involved more or not. I don’t need numbers or metrics I know exactly. Yes of course, it depends on us. We need to look for him a little more.”
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Haaland has admitted to being left frustrated at times in a City shirt, with Guardiola adding on those emotions: “In the last game, you are right [he didn’t touch the ball enough] but against Nottingham [Forest], no. He had the chances in the first and second half. We talked about that many times it’s going to happen. Striker is the most difficult position, one man has two defenders and with Erling it’s more.
Lately in the last game I would agree, I said more control, more passes. Really intense in the first half, in the second we dropped a little bit and that’s why we struggled. Against Leipzig you’re going to struggle. In that game we should have looked for him more. It’s fine [if he’s frustrated], I’m frustrated too, you get frustrated in your life too sometimes I’m sure. Happiness is overestimated!”
Aymeric Laporte is still feeling a little under the weather, but Haaland should have Kevin De Bruyne picking out passes for him again when they travel to Bournemouth on Saturday. The Belgian midfielder is recovering from the illness that prevented him from playing in a 1-1 Champions League draw with Leipzig in midweek.