06 February 2023 , 07:38
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Jamie Carragher has claimed that Manchester City ’s struggles are down to a lack of threat from wide areas - an element that has seen Pep Guardiola enjoy great success in the past with Barcelona.
The reigning Premier League champions missed out on the chance to cut the gap to Arsenal to two points at the weekend. The Gunners fell to struggling Everton at Goodison Park only to be let off the hook by City who themselves were downed by Tottenham.
It was the latest in an inconsistent run of results for Guardiola’s side having already dropped points in seven games so far this season after only failing to win nine games last term as they edged Liverpool in the race for the title. The Spaniard has so far struggled to find a solution for City’s struggles but former Reds’ defender Carragher has claimed that a lack of threat in behind from wide positions is one of their main failings this term.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the defeat to Tottenham, he said: "The wide players, it’s completely different to what they [Man City] had in Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane so when you watch Manchester City today and certainly lots of other games I’ve watched them, everybody is coming to the ball. Even in a Pep Guardiola team, you think everyone is technically good, but they always had that penetration in behind.
“They’ve got it with Haaland but they’re not using it enough. Even his great Barcelona team had Thierry Henry and David Villa in those wide positions making those runs in behind, and you don’t see that, they come towards the ball, keeping the ball, it’s very slow, so it’s a little bit predictable and not the same as what we’ve seen from Manchester City. A lot of that is the profile of players they've got in wide positions now.”
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City’s struggles in North London on Sunday were well evidenced by Haaland ’s lack of threat. Despite the Norwegian frontman’s electric start to the new campaign, he failed to have any impact at all against Spurs.
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The former Borussia Dortmund star did not register a single shot - the first time that he has done that in a game since September 2020. Carragher further claimed during his analysis of City’s result that Haaland had potentially joined the ‘wrong club’.
“He’s still well ahead in the top goalscoring ranks, but I think we’re only seeing 60 per cent of Erling Haaland,” he added. “You think of that goal he scored at West Ham in the first game of the season, where there’s just space in behind, he makes that run.
“Now I know that’s not there that often because of the way City play, but he’s come from a league with Borussia Dortmund where it’s a counter-attacking league.
“It’s end-to-end and you see that blistering pace that he’s got – we don’t see it. And he may have actually picked the wrong club to actually get the best out of him.
“What I’m saying is, we’re not seeing everything of Erling Haaland, and Manchester City now, not because of Erling Haaland, we can say that they’re a different team. But, they’ve scored exactly the same amount of goals, he’s got 25 Premier League goals, but Man City as a team have still scored the same amount of goals.”
Haaland - and Man City - will be aiming to get back to top form this weekend as they take on Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.