Pep Guardiola 'not the right man' to coach Erling Haaland

Stuart Telford

• 18 Feb 2024 05:41 CST
• 3 min read

Pep Guardiola has admitted he is not the man to give advice to a striker after Erling Haaland drew a blank in Manchester City's 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Saturday.

City lost more ground in the title race, with Rodri rescuing a late draw after former player Raheem Sterling had opened the scoring for the Blues.

Haaland started up front for City having shaken off a recent foot injury, but he was frustrated in his attempts to add to his Premier League-leading 16 goals for the season.

Haaland has now missed 21 big chances - another, unwanted record he shares with Liverpool's Darwin Nunez - but Guardiola isn't worried.

"It's good he had nine shots - the next game he is going to score," he said after the game.

Guardiola scored a goal a year

"Listen, I was a football player. I played 11 years and scored 11 goals. What a stat, hey? One goal a season, those are my stats.

"So, I am not the proper man to give advice to the striker, and what they have to do. We created the chances, he had the chances and next game he is going to score."

Whilst it was magnanimous statement from Guardiola, Haaland continues to be linked with an eventual move to Real Madrid, and the Catalan coach has a track record of failing to get the best out of strikers.

Sergio Aguero recently admitted it took a season or two to adjust to his demands at Man City, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic publicly fell out with him at Barcelona.

Robert Lewandowski famously scored five goals in nine minutes for Bayern Munich against Wolfsburg in 2015, but he had started that game from the bench.

Haaland is the second-highest valued player per FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm after former Borussia Dortmund and potential future Madrid teammate Jude Bellingham at €135.1 million.