The Norwegian striker had a memorable day when Man City was held 1-1 by Nottingham Forest in the 24th round of the Premier League on February 18.
At least three times in the last confrontation on the City Ground, people saw Pep Guardiola lost his mind when the attack of the Manchester club played badly. In the middle of the second half, the Man City captain showed an expression of disbelief in his eyes when Phil Foden and Erling Haaland missed a chance in the face-to-face position. Not long after that, Pep once again shook his head in disgust when Haaland had two failed shots in a row.
Haaland is not charming
The Catalan strategist can hardly forget how Man City could not win the match against Nottingham Forest. His side held the ball 73%, created 10 big chances and unleashed 23 shots to their opponents but could only score one.
Haaland just shone brightly against Arsenal in the middle of the week, but when he faced Nottingham, he was just a tall, clumsy-looking striker. When the Norwegian striker managed to get past goalkeeper Joe Worrall to score in an empty net, he suddenly fell down after only a very small collision. Outside the touchline, Pep reacted violently to the referee and received a yellow card.
A few tens of seconds later, the player born in 2000 continued to become the focus of the match when he missed two clear scoring opportunities in a row. From Phil Foden’s shot, the Nottingham goalkeeper pushed the ball to Haaland’s feet in the penalty area. At close range, the Man City striker shot the ball and bounced off the crossbar to his right position again. In an empty position, the one who is leading the list of top scorers of the tournament continues to shoot to the sky.
All of the above happened in less than two minutes, and it perfectly sums up Man City’s forgettable performance at the City Ground. Haaland is only 1 goal away from Man City’s record of scoring in a season, but he was silent when facing Nottingham, who lost 0-6 at the Etihad Stadium in the first leg.
Until Wood cushioned the ball at close range to equalize for the home team, few people believed that Man City could not have all 3 points in this match. “Man City had a great performance but didn’t score enough, Pep said after the game. “We could have defended better, played with more energy, but Man City should have taken the lead. two or three goals in the first half.”
After the defeat to Tottenham earlier this month, Pep’s side also showed the necessary comeback, beating Aston Villa and Arsenal by the same score of 3-1. However, the instability of Man City in this season is still there. Except for the brilliant finish of Bernardo Silva in the first half, the stars attacking Man City played sloppily and did not take chances.
Phil Foden was one of the players attacking Man City to disappoint this match. In the first kick back in two months, the English midfielder had a surprising handling situation for all. When Foden escaped to face the Nottingham keeper after a poke from a teammate, he had too many options.
The space in front is huge and Foden can completely finish or pass to Haaland running in parallel. The two Man City players facing goalkeepers Nottingham and Foden chose the worst option, which was to hesitate and then pass it to Haaland, helping the opposing defender to break the ball in time.
Man City’s problem
Foden’s moment of hesitation reflects the biggest problem Man City faced in the last match. When Haaland could not shine, the blue half of Manchester had problems in finishing. The rest of the defending champion England team only focused on the Norwegian spearhead and seemed to “forget” how to score.
Earlier this year, Pep admitted throughout his career as a coach, he was used to the “virtual nine” system and this was the first season he used the scheme with a true striker so many times. Even in the 0-1 defeat to Tottenham earlier this month, Pep also used a 2 striker scheme when he let Julian Alvarez pair Haaland.
Adjustment from Pep seems to confuse Man City players. They are not used to playing with a true striker in the squad. If in previous seasons, Foden could have finished netting Navas instead of passing it to Haaland. The draw that seemed to lose at Nottingham Forest made Man City unable to regain the top of the table from Arsenal. The playing style of the reigning British champion is still full of instability.
