Gary Neville slams Manchester City stars for ignoring Erling Haaland's runs in 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur defeat
Manchester United legend Gary Neville has hit out at Manchester City players for ignoring Erling Haaland's runs during their 1-0 Premier League loss at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday (February 5).
The Cityzens failed to seize a golden opportunity to close the five-point gap at the top of the 2022-23 Premier League standings after Arsenal lost 1-0 to Everton on Saturday. Harry Kane's 15th-minute right-footed strike proved to be the difference against Pep Guardiola's side.
Haaland, 22, endured an uncharacteristically quiet outing during his 90 minutes of action. He completed just 12 passes, registered zero shots, created one chance, and won a paltry three duels during the contest.
Erling Haaland against Spurs:
0 shots
0 touches in the box
It’s the first time he’s failed to have a shot in a Premier League game 😳 https://t.co/y5wf9C1zJa
While on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports, Neville pointed out how Manchester City playmakers failed to unleash Haaland. He elaborated:
"He is making the runs, ready to go, they are just not playing them. The amount of runs he makes that get ignored is incredible."
During their recent trip to north London, Guardiola partnered the towering Norwegian alongside Julian Alvarez. While Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish were deployed on the flanks, Rodri and Bernardo Silva were responsible for dominating the center of the park. Kevin De Bruyne, City's prime creator, was surprisingly named on the bench.
Haaland, who joined City from Borussia Dortmund for an initial fee of £51 million last summer, has been in stellar form in his debut Premier League campaign. So far, he has scored 25 goals in just 20 matches.
So, were Man City a better team without Erling Haaland? 🤔 https://t.co/Ls2xjBTbQd
Jamie Carragher makes 'wrong club' claim on Haaland after Manchester City defeat
Speaking on Sky Sports, Liverpool great Jamie Carragher asserted that Erling Haaland might have picked the wrong club for himself. He said:
"He might have actually picked the wrong club to get the best out of him. You are laughing but we are not seeing everything from him at Manchester City. We can say that they are a different team, but they have scored exactly the same amount of goals as last seaso. He has scored 25 Premier League goals so far but City as a team have scored the same amount of goals, but they have conceded more."
Shedding light on Manchester City's style of play, Carragher continued:
"It's far easier to counter-attack them as well. They are a different team and a lesser team with the Norwegian striker, but again, it's not his fault. Manchester City will not play end-to-end football, it's not Pep Guardiola's way. His players don't have the energy or the power or the pace to play end-to-end. They build up slowly and they push the opposition back to the edge of the box and play from there."