Pep Guardiola has firmly absolved Erling Haaland of all blame for Manchester City dropping valuable points against Chelsea despite having nine shots without scoring.
Both clubs drew 1-1at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday with City slipping behind Liverpool and Arsenal – who both won earlier in the day – in the Premier League title race.
Nine of City’s 31 shots were Haaland’s but he couldn’t convert, missing a golden opportunity in the second half when a cross from Kevin De Bruyne saw his header fly over the bar. This was the highest number of shots that Haaland has had without scoring in any game with Manchester City.
“It’s good to have nine shots, and next time he’s going to score,” said Guardiola. “I was a football player for 11 years and scored 11 goals. I’m not a proper man to give advice to strikers.
“We create the chances, he had the chances and next time he’s going to score. I don’t blame him. It’s football, it’s human beings.”
Guardiola was understandably not pleased with his side’s first-half performance against Chelsea, who took the lead just before half-time through Raheem Sterling.
Rodri scored a late equaliser to maintain City’s unbeaten home record, which stretches back to November 2022.
“As a team and a group, the first half was not like we are,” said Guardiola.
“The demands are so high because no-one is going to give it to us, we have to do everything.
“We are Man City so we have to do it for ourselves all the time. From Day 1 I said that. We have to improve the first half and the second half was unbelievable. In general, it was really good after we conceded from Raheem.”
Notably Chelsea might have done better than just securing a point had they taken more of their chances while they were on top, but manager Mauricio Pochettino was nonetheless happy with one of the better performances of his time in charge.
“So pleased,” he said.
“The effort was massive and the spirit is the way we want to compete with the talent we have. I think we will reach, one day, the levels we expect. To play the best team in the world is never easy and today the character and personality made me very happy.”