Pep Guardiola stated that Manchester City must look after Erling Haaland, even if it means playing with less assurance.
Almost immediately after rounding the goalie in their Champions League victory over Slovan Bratislava, Haaland finished calmly to make the game secure. Following the match, the No. 9 and Guardiola had a long conversation as they went off the field together.
Although the manager of City would prefer to have Haaland play the entire game, he must consider the demanding timetable. After engaging in a violent altercation at St. Jamesโ Park over the weekend, the Norwegian concluded that enough was enough in Slovakia.
โI will keep him playing all the time, but we need to take care of him since after a 0โ3 lead, the game was practically finished. He took a serious knock in the last game against Newcastle, which is why things improved following Ricoโs wonderful pass goal that made the score 0โ3.
In the Champions League, McAtee improved Cityโs goal differential by scoring his first goal as a substitute and making the score 4-0. The manager expressed his happiness with Cityโs first win, saying he was not too concerned about goal differential because he did not know about the precise qualifying requirements.
He said, โI do not think about it, but someone stated that to me.โ โWinning games will suffice. Three tough, tough away games make it tougher. Need to score a lot of points, and todayโs win is the first step toward moving up the table.โ