Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola will once again be coming up against his strongest managerial rival Jurgen Klopp when both sides meet in the Community Shield on Saturday, with the former’s side strengthened by Erling Haaland’s presence in attack.
Guardiola has started the priliminaries by issuing the warning that goalscoring sensation Haaland can’t wait to be unleashed on them as he prepares for his competitive debut after joining City from Borussia Dortmund in a £51m deal.
The Norwegian wunderkind snubbed the advances of Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona to join Guardiola’s Premier League champions, with Guardiola admitting Haaland has wasted no time in settling into his new surroundings and is desperate to wreak havoc on rival defences.
The Spaniard said: “He’s ready to play. And the first impression as a guy is really good. He’s a funny guy.
“He’s settled really well with the team and that is important. The good vibes in the locker room is more important than any advice or any other thing you can say. “We try to get to know each other in training, we can see what we want to do and what we did in previous seasons. His quality will do the rest.”
Haaland is expected to trigger off an avalanche of goals with Guardiola saying he will need help from his team-mates as the 22-year-old can’t do it all on his own.
Guardiola said: “If we make good football, respect the process like we know, create a lot of chances, put the ball close to the box, we know that Erling has this incredible talent to score goals.
“But he will not do it alone. We have to help him, and the way to help him is to make good processes, offensively and defensively, bring the most amount of chances close to the box. And after we have the feeling that he will score. But if we play no good, if we play bad, he will not score goals that’s for sure.
“I don’t like strikers waiting in the box to score a goal, even for them it is boring. If you ask them, they want to touch the ball, they want to play and that is what we have to do. And after they have the special sense, smell, quality to score a goal. They will do the rest.
“I can’t teach them to score goals, they know what they have to do as a team, to create to produce the amount of moments close to the box to score goals.”
As for the decision regarding the team captain, Guardiola is leaving that to the players to decide. The likes of Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan led the side last season and Guardiola admits whoever is chosen to wear the armband will have nothing to do with him. However he hinted that De Bruyne would be skipper, adding: “We couldn’t make the decisions, so they are doing the decision next week.
“I’m pretty sure Kevin will be… as the oldest player here, the responsibility he takes on the pitch and in many cases off the pitch, he will have a key role within the team. I love the captains being decided by them, not me. It belongs to them, in the locker room. I never vote. The only person who doesn’t vote is me. What they decide is perfect, it’s not a problem.”