Man City problems ‘not about one player’ – Pep Guardiola defends Erling Haaland

Pep Guardiola has stressed Manchester City’s current malaise is not down to one player as he again defended Erling Haaland.

City’s 2-1 loss at Aston Villa on Saturday, the Premier League champions’ ninth defeat in 12 matches in all competitions, saw Haaland fail to score for the fifth time in six outings.

After the game the Norway striker told TNT Sports: “First I’m looking at myself. I haven’t been scoring my chances. I have to do better, I haven’t been good enough.”

City boss Guardiola subsequently stuck up for Haaland, who has netted 108 times for the club since joining in 2022, saying that “without him we will be even worse” and that “he needs to be delivered the right balls in the right spots”.

And speaking on Christmas Eve at his press conference ahead of the Boxing Day home clash with Everton, Guardiola said: “It’s about us, not just one player.

“When in the past we score goals and Erling was so prolific, helping us, it was because of the team.

“And when you have problems at the back, in the middle, it is for everyone, it is a team, it is not about one player. It would be easy, if it was just one player, the reason why. It’s not about that.

“Erling is so important for us, will be so important for us, has been. (We have to) try to do things better, to use him better.”

He added: “In this situation, this tendency for all of us (is to say) ‘the reason why is this one, and this one and this one’. It’s about us, about everyone.

“The guys are running, making effort more than ever. All the tendency ‘it’s because we don’t run, because we don’t fight, the reason why is this situation or this player or this manager’… It’s not about that.

“It’s many little details or big details that make all together not as good as we were. But we have another opportunity on Boxing Day.”