Former Manchester City centre-back Joleon Lescott has warned Manchester United that they must cut-off the supply to striker Erling Haaland, opposed to trying to stop just him, ahead of Saturday's derby at Old Trafford.
Haaland, who has enjoyed an outstanding debut campaign in England so far, scoring 27 goals in just 23 appearances, netted a hat-trick against United the last time the two sides met, inspiring City to a memorable 6-3 victory. He was in a rich vein of form at the time, fresh from scoring nine goals in his previous five Premier League appearances, and United did not know how to stop him.
The Reds, however, have significantly improved defensively since being swept aside by City back in October, highlighted by their run of five clean sheets in their last six matches in league and cup. However, the task of stopping Haaland from adding to his tally promises to be the sternest test they have faced since last facing City.
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But instead of trying to stop him from doing what he does best inside the 18-yard box, former City defender Lescott insists United need to nullify the threat of those aiming to supply him, such as Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez.
"There is a way to do it but it's probably not him, it's nullifying the supply," said Lescott to the Mirror. "You'll see that he doesn't get as involved in the build-up as much.
"Credit to him, he doesn't get frustrated if he's not involved, but he operates in and around the box. Your thought process should be to nullify the supply, because if enough chances fall to him, he's going to execute and that's why he's regarded as world-class.
"You're never going to stop someone for 90 minutes, especially when they're world-class, so with regards to completely nullifying Haaland, I don't think anyone's had success in doing that yet. Ben Godfrey [of Everton] tried, but Haaland still scored in that game.
"Your objective is for Haaland not to score and Godfrey did exceptionally well that game overall. But he'll still have come off disappointed, having let Haaland score."
When the two sides last met in October, Haaland made mincemeat of United's defence from the off, causing no end of problems, highlighted by his hat-trick and two assists in that game. However, Lescott believes that could have stemmed from United duo Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez trying to bully him, resulting in him being fired up even more.
Lescott added: "I think Martinez and Varane tried to get physical with him. I remember a couple of instances where Haaland just kind of manhandled them - and he enjoys that.
"So there has to be a different approach, because the outcome wasn't positive for them as individuals or as a team. It's a case of recognising what didn't work in the last game and changing that."
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