No goals, no assists, no shots, no successful dribbles, no chances created, no interceptions... and 19 passes. This is an extremely bad statistic, even for a defender.
It may seem unbelievable, but these are Erling Haaland's numbers in the last 3 matches for Manchester City. And in all three of those matches, The Citizens lost, against Juventus, Man United and Aston Villa respectively.
"I didn't do everything well. I didn't get the chance so I had to do better. I have to look in the mirror. A lot of it was my fault, I wasn't good enough. Obviously, our confidence is not at its best, but we have to keep going and stay positive, even when it's difficult," said the Norwegian striker after the defeat at Villa Park.
Man City's crisis - they have suffered 9 losses and 2 draws in the last 12 matches - is largely explained by Haaland's poor numbers. The Norwegian striker's decline is largely due to the absence of Rodri and De Bruyne.
Remember, Haaland has had an impressive start to this year's campaign with 10 goals in the first 5 matches in the Premier League. Since then, he has scored just three goals in 12 games. In fact, Mohamed Salah defeated Haaland to become the top scorer in the Premier League top scorer list with 2 more goals.
However, coach Pep Guardiola disagreed when Haaland took the blame for himself: "I don't agree. Without Haaland, we would be even worse. I like when the players criticize themselves. That is the only way to improve.
Haaland is trying every way he can, but we have not given him the right lines. We have to give him better passes."
However, the expected goals (xG) shows that Haaland should have scored more than the 18 goals he has now in all competitions. Man City's attacking style of play currently depends heavily on passing the ball to Haaland, despite the Norwegian player's few touches. And when Haaland failed to score, in addition to the lackluster wingers, Man City's number of goals dropped significantly.
Haaland has scored a total of 108 goals in 122 matches since joining the Etihad in 2022. The Norwegian striker has also won the Premier League Top Scorer title in the last 2 seasons.
