Aston Villa are not the only team to realize that stopping Erling Haaland means blocking Man City this season. However, they were the first to successfully implement the plan. It must be said that Unai Emery's team was somewhat lucky, and in another day, Haaland could have scored.
In the last match, Haaland shot directly at Emiliano Martinez when receiving a pass from Bernardo Silva. He immediately headed the ball from a late cross straight at the Argentine goalkeeper. Even when he found the net in the final minutes, Haaland's goal was still disallowed because Omar Marmoush was offside.
This is a reminder that, contrary to the image of continuous goalscoring in his career, Haaland has not always shined. Therefore, Man City cannot rely on him alone. If they do not build a backup plan, it will be difficult for them to regain the Premier League title this season.
When Haaland was suspended
Pep Guardiola commented that Man City did not play badly, the problem was just that they could not take advantage of the opportunity.
"The problem is just the finishing, putting the ball into the net. We had a match that was not only good but also impressive. We are facing a very strong team. 16 shots (in fact, 18) is not a bad number, overall it was a difficult match, with only a few small details.
The team spirit is really good. We just missed the final one, if we had better finished or crossed the ball, the result could have been different," said Guardiola.
Meanwhile, Emery applied a physical strategy, increasing his strength in midfield with Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara. At the same time, he asked central defenders Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres to work closely together, minimizing Haaland's opportunities. The Norwegian international has only touched the ball four times in the home team's penalty area.
Although this approach has been applied by many coaches before, other City stars often take advantage of the space. However, that did not happen last weekend.
Guardiola should not seek an excuse
Half of Man City's 18 shots were blocked by Aston Villa's strong defense. Of the 9 shots that hit the Citizens' goal, Haaland also took the third.
Meanwhile, Haaland's other teammates have all missed opportunities. Josko Gvardiol and Tijjani Reijnders both missed two shots, while Matheus Nunes had another terrible shot. Savinho is the only player other than Haaland to really challenge goalkeeper Martinez. Bernardo Silva, Oscar Bobb and Jeremy Doku (all on the bench for just over half an hour) did not create a shot.
If Guardiola believes the only problem is Man City's failure to put the ball into the net, it can be seen that only Haaland and Savinho are to blame. However, that is clearly unfair, as the remaining players need to shoulder the scoring responsibility instead of relying too much on the Norwegian star.
Haaland lacks the necessary support
Man City's trend of giving up all the scoring role to Haaland did not start from Villa Park. When Bernardo Silva scored Man City's second goal against Villarreal in the Champions League, he ended Haaland's streak of 8 consecutive goals.
Previously, the last player besides Haaland to score for City in the tournament was Burnley's Maxime Esteve a month ago. Ironically, Esteve scored twice against home in the Citizens' 5-1 win over Clarets.
In the Premier League, Haaland leads with 11 goals, but only 4 of his teammates have scored: Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Matheus Nunes. Meanwhile, City's two main wingers, Savinho and Jeremy Doku, have yet to score any goals.
In the Champions League, only Foden and Doku have scored outside of Haaland in the past 3 matches, showing City's great dependence on the Norwegian striker. This is an uncomfortable reality for Guardiola, as sharing the scoring responsibility has not been fully realized in the Citizens' squad.
What is the solution for Man City?
Last week, Guardiola mocked the British media, when they quickly confirmed that Man City had lost the chance to win the championship after only 3 matches at the beginning of the season. Even after the defeat to Villa, Guardiola has stressed that the season will have many surprises and unpredictability.
"In my experience, the season is very, very long. I was worried about the September international break when we were 14th in the table and were 7 or 8 points behind Arsenal.
Our task is not to look at the rankings. If they win all the games and win the Premier League, congratulations to them, that's all we can do. But I feel the team is still vitale, the team is still very strong" - the Spanish captain said.
City have now reduced their lead to six points against Arsenal, but to regain the title, they need to find a way to win without relying entirely on Haaland.
Guardiola once called Tottenham "the Harry Kane team", making Mauricio Pochettino angry at the time. However, at the moment, Man City is facing the risk of being called "the Erling Haaland team". And if that does not change, they will find it difficult to win the title - like Tottenham during Kane's time in London.
