The match between Manchester City and Arsenal this Sunday was one of the most anticipated in the Premier League. With eight days left until the end of the tournament, the fight for the top of the positions is burning: Liverpool remained the sole leader after their victory against Brighton (2-1) with 67 points, two above the Gunners, who They drew goalless against the Ciudadanos – they were three points behind – at the Etihad Stadium.
After the tie, which left little flavor for both teams in the fight for leadership of the top category, an English football legend was very critical of Erling Haaland’s game. Although the Norwegian giant is the championship’s top scorer with 18 goals, he failed to finish the goal defended by the Spanish David Raya and the statistics indicated that he completed seven passes during the more than 90 minutes he was on the field.
“The levels of his general game are very poor, and not just today,” was the first comment from Roy Keane, a historic Manchester United player who is currently one of the commentators for the Sky Sports network in the United Kingdom. .
“I think leaving things out, headbutting, whatever. In terms of facing goal, he is the best in the world. But his overall game for a player like that is very poor. Not only today, he has to improve,” added the Irish-born former midfielder. Immediately afterwards, Keane noted that Haaland’s performance is that of a fourth-rate player in England.
“He’s almost like a League Two player, that’s how I see him. His overall game has to improve and he will do so in the coming years,” he concluded in part of his analysis after the match.
While the Norwegian-born striker remains at the top of the Premier League scoring list, he has only scored once in his last four games. What’s more, against Arsenal he seemed restless during the game. The team led by Mikel Arteta took it well in defense and did not weigh in at any point during the development of the match.
It must be remembered that this is not the first time that Keane targeted Haaland. He already did it in 2023 after City’s victory against United in the Manchester city classic. After the 3-0 win in favor of the Citizens at Old Trafford, with two goals from Erling, the attacker and Guardiola had a chat while they headed to the locker room.
“You can talk about it in the locker room. What really is the problem? It was a nice header from Haaland, yes, but there’s no need to talk about it on the pitch for five minutes. “Go down the locker room tunnel and celebrate your victory with your player there,” commented the former Red Devils player, who wore the United shirt for 12 seasons (1995 to 2003).
Once the match between City and Arsenal in Manchester was over, Guardiola spoke to the press and was blunt about his view of the game. “What is the solution against a team that defends like this?” they asked him. “Kill someone, maybe?”, the Catalan coach ironically commented on the proposal of his former assistant Arteta.
“We couldn’t create much. There were some actions, but they defended very well and it is not easy to break that. We tried, I recognize the intention we had,” she said in self-criticism for the work of his team on the playing field. “We couldn’t apply much pressure because they played mainly long balls. When we contacted the last line, they went down very well. “They defended very well in the low block,” he added about his analysis.
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