Guardiola ‘upset’ with Erling Haaland for only scoring a single goal in Manchester City’s win over Southampton

Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland scored for the seventh consecutive Premier League match against Southampton.

With the Norwegian having scored 20 goals in his 13 appearances for City so far, expectations are now through the roof.

After the match, manager Pep Guardiola attempted to reduce the pressure on his striker, joking that he was disappointed in him. Guardiola said: “I’m so upset with him – he didn’t score three goals. That’s why there’s a petition to sack him from the Premier League!”

He went on to explain in greater detail. He said: “Expectations here are so high that people expect he’s going to score every game three or four goals. But at the end he was there to score it. He helped us again, keeping the ball and fighting and I think Erling played really well today.”

In case anyone was uncertain that Guardiola was joking, he underlined his contentment with the Norwegian’s superb start to life in the Premier League. He said: “He scored a brilliant goal. It’s an incredible weapon for us, a big threat. I am so satisfied.”

Despite his obvious brilliance, Haaland had a moment of humanity against Southampton when he missed a relatively simple chance. Guardiola defended the Norwegian on this point, too.

He simply said: “It happens.”

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl admitted that Haaland causes problems even without goals. He said: “The problem is that even if he’s not immediately scoring you have to be aware of him much more, the centre-backs are more fixed in the centre, it makes it harder for us in the press. You have to be very brave.”

Haaland’s scoring pace has him on track to shatter the all-time record for goals in a Premier League season. In a 38-game season, the record is Mohamed Salah’s 32 in 2017-18, while Andy Cole and Alan Shearer each scored 34 in a 42-game season. At his current scoring rate, Haaland would score more than 60.

It is this monstrous scoring rate that likely inspired the humourous petition earlier this week – signed by more than two million people – demanding that Haaland be banned from the Premier League for “being a robot”.