Haaland pleads with Man City teammates to play to his strengths

Suraj Radia

• Updated: 17 Feb 2023 17:42 GMT
• 2 min read

He may be having one of the most prolific seasons in Premier League history but Erling Haaland has admitted his frustration at how the campaign has gone for him so far.

The Norwegian has scored 32 times in all competitions during his debut year for Manchester City but his form has slowed down by his standards in recent weeks, with his goal against Arsenal just his fifth in the last nine games.

Speaking to Amazon Prime, Haaland revealed that, while he is happy with how his season has gone, he has often pleaded with teammates to pass the ball to him in the right situations and feels there is still plenty to be improved upon.

STATS: Erling Haaland's historic campaign in detail

“It's frustrating,” Haaland said. “Either the players don't see me or thinks it's another good chance to do something else. It's up to other players around me. It's about chemistry. I've been here seven months, it's getting a bit to know each other.

“We know we're good players, there's other things I could have done better. For me it's more about in the game [vs Villa] I told Rodri 'please look for me in behind'. I said please. I also told Bernardo [Silva] to put it in behind, it didn't happen but things take time.

“When we learn each other proper, the balls will come. I still got a lot of balls. We want crosses and passes all the time.”

Will Haaland set the Premier League record for goals?

Haaland’s 26 Premier League goals this season would have won him the Golden Boot in the last four campaigns despite the 22-year-old having played just 22 games so far.

The ex-Dortmund man is still on course to beat the record for most goals in a single Premier League season, which stands at 34 set by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer, although that came at a time when there were 42 games in a domestic season.

RECORD BREAKER: Haaland set to smash Ronaldo scoring record

The record for a 38-game season was set by Mohamed Salah in 2017/18, who scored 32 times for Liverpool, while Harry Kane’s 29 goals in 30 matches in the previous season is the best goals-per-game record across a single campaign.

With 15 games to go in the season, Haaland’s current output of 1.18 goals per game would see him finish with roughly 44 goals, giving him the most prolific season ever in the Premier League.