With Erling Haaland in the lineup, Pep Guardiola is adamant that Manchester City is a superior team.
Naturally, City has won its last eight games across all competitions, with 24 goals scored and just four goals allowed.
Erling Haaland has been out due to injury, therefore Julian Alvarez has been leading the line. In their most recent triumph on Wednesday over Burnley, they scored twice.
Erling Haaland makes Manchester City a “better team,” according to Pep Guardiola.
Many would even be tempted to wonder if the treble-winning team is really that much better without the £51 million (The Guardian) player on it.
After all, even if Haaland had to miss some games due to injury, City has been playing well lately.
Pep Guardiola, on the other hand, rejects these hypotheses, saying that a Manchester City team that starts Erling Haaland is always superior to one that does not.
He stated, “We are really happy that he is back. We have been really good [in] the past two months without him, but with him, we are [a] better team” (via BeanymanSports’ YouTube channel).
The extent of Erling Haaland’s absence has been concealed by recent outcomes.
We think Pep Guardiola is exactly right when he says that Erling Haaland lifts this Manchester City team when he starts.
Even though City has been playing well lately across the board, it is still clear that they have missed having him in the lineup.
Manchester City has the licence to flourish when they adopt a far more vertical attacking strategy and it gives them a lot more bite moving forward, which has been somewhat lacking lately, especially when Erling Haaland begins.
Furthermore, the Sky Blues are a far more formidable opponent when Haaland is on the field because even in games when they do not generate many opportunities, his movement and placement are of such an excellent calibre that he may still score a few goals.
Again, at least in most of their recent Premier League games, that has not been the case.
The Norwegian’s absence has also contributed significantly to Manchester City’s lack of deadly transitions in recent weeks. Since his arrival in the summer of 2022, the Norwegian has taken the team’s counterattacking abilities to previously unheard-of heights.
When Haaland is not available, this City team is simply too much better because of what he brings to the table.
