05 February 2023 , 18:25
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Gary Neville heavily criticised Manchester City's stars for failing to unleash Erling Haaland during their poor performance against Tottenham.
City lost 1-0 in north London after Harry Kane struck on the quarter-hour mark following Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's fine work to win the ball back in the visitors' final third. The Englishman's strike was his 267th for Spurs and saw him surpass White Hart Lane legend Jimmy Greaves as the club's record scorer.
It was a typical counter-attacking display from Tottenham, who had less than a third of possession in the first half but pounced on City's mistake to take the lead. Riyad Mahrez hitting the crossbar was the closest Pep Guardiola's side came to scoring, with Haaland kept unusually quiet at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The prolific Norwegian international, 22, was not helped in the slightest by his lack of service. Neville pointed this out while on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports, hitting out at City's players for "ignoring" Haaland's runs in-behind the Spurs defence and along the channels.
"Haaland is making the runs, he is ready to go, they (City players) are just not playing them," the Manchester United legend said. "The amount of runs he makes that get ignored is incredible." Neville's comments were echoed by Micah Richards and Graeme Souness in the studio, yet City continued to struggle to get Haaland into the game early in the second half.
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Why did Manchester City struggle to get Erling Haaland into the game? Have your say in the comments!
Erling Haaland cut an increasingly frustrated figure at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (Getty Images)Guardiola deployed the reigning champions in a new set-up for the trip to north London, with Haaland partnered up front by Argentine World Cup winner Julian Alvarez. The City boss fielded Mahrez and Jack Grealish on the flanks and a midfield pairing of Rodri - who was at fault for giving the ball away for Spurs' goal - and Bernardo Silva.
Alvarez and Haaland started as City came from two goals down to thrash Spurs 4-2 in January, but the shape of the team was different that day as the former was operating in a deeper role. The Sky Blues lacked a No.10-style player to link the play against Spurs on Sunday, especially as Kevin De Bruyne was named on the bench.
The Belgian was introduced just before the hour mark and Guardiola may have rued his decision to leave him among the substitutes originally. The game became increasingly scrappy as it wore on, with Grealish involved in many a tussle against Tottenham right-back Emerson Royal.
City saw two hopeful penalty appeals waved away for handball just before the 65th minute, while Spurs continued to pose a serious threat on the counter-attack.