Jamie Carragher has suggested Erling Haaland may have picked the 'wrong club' by joining a Manchester City side whose tactics don't suit his style.
Haaland was left frustrated once again as City lost 1-0 at Tottenham on Sunday evening, failing to register a single shot on target for the first time in his short Premier League career. The Norwegian has been bang or bust since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, scoring 25 goals in 19 league games but at times finding himself starved of service and isolated.
A significant drop in form this season has inevitably led to some calls that the 22-year-old diminishes City's build-up play, with some suggestions that he makes Pep Guardiola's side worse. And after the defeat, Carragher was joined by Micah Richards in discussing Haaland's impact at the Etihad.
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Read the full debate below:
Carragher: "Obviously he’s still well ahead in the top-scoring ranks, but I think we’re only seeing 60 per cent of Erling Haaland. You think of that goal that he scored at West Ham on the first day of the season, where there’s space in behind and he makes that run. I know that’s not there that often because of the way City play, but he’s come from a league with Borussia Dortmund where it’s a counter-attacking league, and it’s end-to-end, and you see that blistering pace he’s got.
"Now you don’t see it. He may have actually picked the wrong club to actually get the best out of him. You’re laughing, but we’re not seeing everything of Erling Haaland, and Manchester City now, not because of Erling Haaland. We can say they’re a different team, but they’ve scored exactly the same amount of goals.
"He’s scored 25 Premier League goals, but Man City as a team have scored the same amount of goals, and they’re conceding more, and it’s far easier to counter-attack them as well, so they’re a different team, and a lesser team with Erling Haaland in the team.
"Again, it’s not his fault. Manchester City as a team will not play end-to-end football - it’s not Pep Guardiola’s way. His players don’t have the power, the pace or the energy to play end-to-end, they build up slowly, they push the opposition back to the edge of the box, they play from there and when they lose it they win it back quickly.
"Erling Haaland has still scored 25 Premier League goals, all of those are coming across and he’s putting them in, but we’re not seeing the full package of what this player can do because of the team he’s actually gone to."
Richards: "But it’s impossible to see the full package though because when teams play against Man City they go deep. We’re talking about a striker that’s scored 25 goals, and today he didn’t have his greatest game, I’ll agree with you, he had no touches in the opposition box.
"But this is what the Premier League is, he knows what Man City do - they dominate the ball, like you said, they recycle it and wait for the space in the box. I would understand more if he’d only scored 15 goals, but he’s scored 25 goals so he’s still getting the numbers."
Carragher: "I’m not criticising him, what I’m saying is him as a full package when we’re talking about one of the best players in the world, I think he’s that good he’s scored 25 goals but we’re only seeing 60, 70 per cent of him because we’re not seeing that power or blistering pace. Again, because of the way Manchester City play, but we’ve got to come back to the fact that no matter how many goals he scores as an individual - the team’s bigger than any individual - the team have scored the same amount of goals this season."
Richards: "It’s just different, isn’t it?"
Carragher: "But it’s not better."
Richards: "It’s just different. It’s not about being better or not, we’ll see at the end of the season."
Carragher: "It’s not better."
Richards: "It’s different. It doesn’t look as good, it’s not as tidy on the eye. It’s not coming into the false nine and playing off different positions, it’s not that, but in front of goal it’s potent."
Carragher: "The attack hasn’t changed, the goals are still there, Haaland’s been sensational, the goals that he’s got for Manchester City. The problem that was massive today is how easy they are to counter-attack and get at, and maybe that’s because they’ve got a fella who plays right up front, he’s not in the midfield position to stop a counter-attack. It’s far easier to get at Manchester City now, as we saw today, and that’s the big problem."
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