Pep Guardiola has committed to a plan to protect Erling Haaland and remove him from the Manchester City squad.
After joining Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund, Erling Haaland has made an immediate impact in the Premier League, scoring three goals in his first three games.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has publicly acknowledged that he will have to leave Erling Haaland out of his starting lineup on occasion this season.
Last season, the Norwegian international striker missed more than a dozen games for former club Borussia Dortmund due to injury. However, since joining City in the summer in a reported Ł51 million deal, he has started all three Premier League fixtures and spent the entire 90 minutes of Sunday's 3-3 draw at Newcastle.
Haaland not the only forward to join the City strike force this season; January signing Julian Alvarez has also joined the squad after spending last season on loan at River Plate. And Guardiola has agreed to a plan in which the two will share the workload as the schedule becomes more crowded.
"I'll tell you right now that because we have gameplay every three days, Erling will not play (every game)," Guardiola said. "Julian will participate."
Alvarez has yet to make his 1st marketable start for England. He did, however, make late cameos in the league victories over West Ham United and Bournemouth after scoring from the bench in the Community Shield.
Guardiola's comments were made after Haaland managed to score from close range to help his team rally from a 3-1 deficit against Newcastle. The Norwegian had a chance to score earlier in the game, but home goalkeeper Nick Pope tipped his low shot onto the post.
"Proper football match," Guardiola said after his squad took an early lead thanks to Ilkay Gundogan prior to actually falling behind. "We had a great start.
"We lost a few really shootouts, allowing them to flee. They were better for 20 minutes after the game started. The team demonstrated who we are." City could have come back to win, but they were forced to settle for a point. Newcastle also benefited from an overturned sending off, with goalscorer Kieran Trippier's card reduced to yellow after a VAR review.
"Newcastle are definitely becoming one of the strongest teams," Guardiola stated to Sky Sports. "Today, Leeds crushed Chelsea. Everyone finds the Premier League to be extremely difficult.
"It demonstrates how incredible we've been for the past five years, as well as how difficult the road ahead will be." It's enough to see the team fight until the bitter end."
City's point was insufficient to reclaim the top spot, and Arsenal are now the only Premier League team with a perfect record. Haaland and company will face Crystal Palace next, while City will play a friendly against Barcelona before their next competitive match.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0