Pep Guardiola hit back at pundits like Jamie Carragher, who have criticised Erling Haaland’s all-round play this week.
After Roy Keane described Haaland as a ‘League Two’ player when it comes to his contribution away from his incredible goalscoring record, Carragher is the latest high-profile pundit to wade in on Haaland’s abilities when he is not finding the back of the net. The former Liverpool defender wrote on Friday that Haaland is the ‘ultimate luxury footballer’, adding he cannot yet be a Ballon d’Or contender because: “he is undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest goal-scorers, but is yet to become a world-class player.”
It’s an opinion that Guardiola clearly doesn’t subscribe to as he defended his striker and credited him with a vital role in City’s five trophies won in the last 12 months. To Carragher and other pundits, Guardiola simply said: “They can do whatever they want.”
The prime accusation levelled at Haaland after his blank in Madrid was that he failed to impact the game, but that ignores the key factor that he was marked incredibly closely by both Real centre-backs. And as Guardiola pointed out, the Madrid tactics allowed City more space in attack to score their three goals.
“We had two central defenders close to him, really close to him, it’s not easy. The most difficult position on the pitch is a striker,” he said. “Every player has one player [marking them]. You have two against one with the striker. He has two players and they were so tight and really good defenders. It is the most difficult position.
“The target is not to win the Ballon d’Or. The target is to win the Premier Leagues, Champions Leagues, FA Cups and Carabao Cups. And he did it. Without him, it would not be possible. What we won in 2023 five titles without him it’s impossible. No chance. He’s a key player for us.
“They [pundits] have to understand they have an opinion, I have an opinion. We have an opinion. Doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong. If I give an opinion it looks like I want to criticise the pundits. I don’t criticise the pundits. They do their job, I do my job. We don’t have to agree. I give my opinion, we can agree or disagree. It’s as simple as that.”
Guardiola has found himself defending Haaland of late amid the big names in punditry setting their sights on the striker’s performances. Indeed the manager appears frustrated with the repetitive nature of questioning Haaland’s contributions.
“All the success last season was about the team. When we play better, Erling will be better,” the boss said. “And when we play better, he will help us be better as a team. It’s not about a single player.
“We are quite similar to last season, we scored four goals, four goals, three goals in the last three games. 11 goals in three games. And he helped us score some of them [by] creating lots of spaces for the other ones to score the goals. I saw the face in what he said after the game in the locker room. He was extremely happy. It was a good result, let’s see what happens next Wednesday.”
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