Erling Haaland
Pep Guardiola warned Erling Haaland’s critics “he will shut your mouth” after the prolific Norwegian boosted Manchester City’s Premier League title hopes.
Haaland’s 71st-minute winner against Brentford moved City into second place in the table – just a point behind leaders Liverpool – as he emphatically responded to missing a host of chances in Saturday’s draw with Chelsea.
That Chelsea setback came just days after Haaland’s grandmother died, and City manager Guardiola took the opportunity post-match to give his thoughts on the forward’s recent critics – and journalists.
“With top scorers or strikers who score a lot of goals, don’t criticise because he will shut your mouth, that’s for sure,” said Guardiola. “Sooner or later, he is there.
“Definitely, if I have to choose one [player to be running through on goal], I choose this one.
“He was out with injury for two months and is not in his best shape and just had an incredibly tough week because he lost his grandmother. That is not easy for a human being.”
Asked a question about whether Haaland had been “determined to make an impact” against Brentford following some discussion in the media about his performance against Chelsea, Guardiola responded by saying he had “never” wanted to be a journalist.
When a reporter asked a further question about what was wrong with being a journalist, Pep replied: “I am a manager,” he said. “My life is better than yours.”
He then added his comment was “not personal” to the journalist asking the question.
Guardiola also said Belgium playmaker Kevin de Bruyne, who has just returned from five months out, has a hamstring issue.
“Today we could not use Kevin because he had niggles in his hamstring and I didn’t want to take [a] risk,” he said.
“He’s OK. It’s just a precaution but he didn’t feel comfortable, and so after five months off we didn’t take any risk.”