Guardiola defends Haaland in face of Roy Keane criticism
April 3, 2024
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has leapt to defend his star striker Erling Haaland after he was the target of some harsh criticism from Roy Keane following Sunday’s draw against Arsenal.
Speaking as a pundit on Sky Sport, Keane said the Norwegian star was operating at a League Two level. “The level of his general play is so poor, and not just today. His general play for such a player, it is so poor, I think he has to improve that, he’s almost like a League Two player,” said Keane.
But as Guardiola spoke to the media ahead of Wednesday night’s encounter with top four rivals Aston Villa, he moved quickly to defend his prolific striker. “I don’t agree with him, absolutely not.
“He’s the best striker in the world.
“He helped us win last season and the reason why we didn’t create many answers from Erling is we need more presence in the final third with more people.
“We played an exceptional game; I reviewed the game against Arsenal, but we just missed more people in the final third. The quality and different skillset we have, Haaland is exceptional.
“Some actions he missed, sometimes it’s the managers, sometimes the opponent is really good, there are many, many reasons.
“In football there is not just one reason, sometimes where you have success or you don’t have success, there are many reasons, it’s football, it’s a team sport,” he said.
It is hard to argue against Haaland who banged in 52 goals last season and who has already scored 18 times in the P0remier League this season, but Keane is never one to pull his punches.
Haaland also received a robust defence from former England striker Chris Sutton who said: “It was total nonsense and unfair on Erling Haaland. Everybody has sung the praises of Saliba and Gabriel all season.
“When Stefan Ortega was clipping balls into Haaland, they’re probably the best at working off a centre-forward’s touch, being really clever with their defending.
“Could Haaland have been a bit stronger, could he have been a bit cuter, could his brain have worked better in those moments? Of course. But at times you come up against brilliant defenders, which Saliba and Gabriel were on Sunday.
“He wasn’t brought into Manchester City to play a creative role, he was brought in to occupy the centre-halves and for others to create for him because he’s the monster finisher,” said Sutton.
Haaland will have a chance to score again on Wednesday night when his side host Aston Villa at The Etihad Stadium. The game kicks off at 9:15pm.
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Guardiola defends Haaland in face of Roy Keane criticism
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has leapt to defend his star striker Erling Haaland after he was the target of some harsh criticism from Roy Keane following Sunday’s draw against Arsenal.
Speaking as a pundit on Sky Sport, Keane said the Norwegian star was operating at a League Two level. “The level of his general play is so poor, and not just today. His general play for such a player, it is so poor, I think he has to improve that, he’s almost like a League Two player,” said Keane.
But as Guardiola spoke to the media ahead of Wednesday night’s encounter with top four rivals Aston Villa, he moved quickly to defend his prolific striker. “I don’t agree with him, absolutely not.
“He’s the best striker in the world.
“He helped us win last season and the reason why we didn’t create many answers from Erling is we need more presence in the final third with more people.
“We played an exceptional game; I reviewed the game against Arsenal, but we just missed more people in the final third. The quality and different skillset we have, Haaland is exceptional.
“Some actions he missed, sometimes it’s the managers, sometimes the opponent is really good, there are many, many reasons.
“In football there is not just one reason, sometimes where you have success or you don’t have success, there are many reasons, it’s football, it’s a team sport,” he said.
It is hard to argue against Haaland who banged in 52 goals last season and who has already scored 18 times in the P0remier League this season, but Keane is never one to pull his punches.
Haaland also received a robust defence from former England striker Chris Sutton who said: “It was total nonsense and unfair on Erling Haaland. Everybody has sung the praises of Saliba and Gabriel all season.
“When Stefan Ortega was clipping balls into Haaland, they’re probably the best at working off a centre-forward’s touch, being really clever with their defending.
“Could Haaland have been a bit stronger, could he have been a bit cuter, could his brain have worked better in those moments? Of course. But at times you come up against brilliant defenders, which Saliba and Gabriel were on Sunday.
“He wasn’t brought into Manchester City to play a creative role, he was brought in to occupy the centre-halves and for others to create for him because he’s the monster finisher,” said Sutton.
Haaland will have a chance to score again on Wednesday night when his side host Aston Villa at The Etihad Stadium. The game kicks off at 9:15pm.