Erling Haaland admits his and Manchester City’s recent performances have not been good enough, but has backed boss Pep Guardiola to “find solutions”.
City have now won just once in their last 12 games after going down 2-1 at Aston Villa this afternoon, with goals from John Duran and Morgan Rodgers putting the hosts in control before Phil Foden’s late consolation.
Haaland was a peripheral figure once again as City struggled to establish themselves against some ferocious pressing from Villa and the Norwegian striker admits improvement is needed, both individually and collectively.
Manchester City have now lost nine of their last 12 games in all competitions…
That’s more than in their previous 106 games combined (8) 🤯 pic.twitter.com/jpznVDfRKh
— Soccer on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 21, 2024
Haaland – not good enough
He told TNT Sports: “Of course we’re disappointed, it’s not good enough. Not good enough from me.
“They are good players, it is difficult to come here but we are Man City and we have to be out there. We have to keep going, we have to believe and we have to keep working hard.
“We must continue. First I look at myself, I haven’t done things well enough, I haven’t scored my chances. I have to do better, I wasn’t good enough.”
The defeat continues what is arguably the biggest crisis of Guardiola’s managerial career, but Haaland has backed the Catalan to guide City through the storm.
“He won the Premier League six times in seven years, so we’ll never forget that,” he added.
“He will find the solutions. He does this every year. We still believe in him, we have to work harder than ever right now.
“We know how important confidence is and you can see it affects every person. That’s the way it is, we have to keep going and stay positive even though it’s difficult.”
“We struggle to score and concede goals” 😳
Pep Guardiola gives @julesbreach His analysis of Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa…
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/eTiBhWdZgf
— Soccer on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 21, 2024
We will regain confidence – Guardiola
Guardiola was disappointed with his side’s second-half performance.
He told TNT Sports: “We had a really good first half, the second half we lost. We changed the pressing because John (Stones) couldn’t continue.
“We had good moments, we had chances, more chances than in the (Manchester) United game, but in the second half we collapsed and our pressing was not good enough. We found a goal at the end, but too late.
“We struggle to score and concede goals.”
However, he remains confident that City will emerge from this situation and regain their confidence.
“Step by step, we have good personalities in the team and sooner or later we will find it,” he said.
