Man City star responds to ‘ludicrous’ Carragher claim over Haaland ‘picking the wrong club’

Lewis Oldham
Man City star responds to Carragher

Man City star Ilkay Gundogan has rubbished suggestions that Erling Haaland has “picked the wrong club” after Jamie Carragher questioned his decision.

Haaland signed for Man City last summer for around £51m from Borussia Dortmund. He has been in stunning goalscoring form this term as he has already scored 25 goals in the Premier League.

But Pep Guardiola’s team are arguably weaker this term and they could find themselves eight points adrift of league leaders Arsenal if the Londoners win their game in hand.

When City are not performing at full tilt, Haaland often finds himself on the periphery and barely has any touches. This was the case last weekend as they lost 1-0 against Tottenham.

Speaking post-match, Carragher explained why he thinks Haaland “picked the wrong club” in the summer.

“I think we’re only seeing 60 per cent of Erling Haaland,” Carragher said on Sky Sports. “He’s come from Borussia Dormund and a counter-attacking league where it’s end-to-end, you see that blistering pace he’s got, but we don’t see it [now].

“He may have actually picked the wrong club to get the best out of him. We’re not seeing everything of Erling Haaland.

“He’s scored 25 league goals but Manchester City as a team have scored the same amount of goals, but they’ve conceded more and it’s far easier to counter-attack them as well.

“They’re a different team and a lesser team with Erling Haaland in the team, but it’s not his fault.

“Manchester City as a team will not play end-to-end football, it’s not Pep Guardiola’s way, they build up slowly, push the opposition back to the edge of the box and play from there.

“Erling Haaland will still score 25 league goals but we’re not seeing the full package of what this player can do because of the team he’s gone to.”

Man Utd legend Dwight Yorke thinks this was a “ludicrous” claim from Carragher, while City midfielder Gundogan has insisted that Haaland does “fit” into their team.

“If you score 25 goals in 20 games, you fit into a team!” Gundogan told Sky Germany.

“Our game has become a bit different because of Erling’s qualities. Both he and the team have to adjust to that. We’ve already had outstanding games in this campaign, and I can remember that a few weeks ago everything was hyped up.

“It’s important for us to stay calm. We have to realise that we weren’t good enough in the last few games – that goes for everyone.

“Everyone has to look in the mirror and know that they have to step it up a notch. If we want to close the gap to Arsenal, we can’t afford any more mistakes.”

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