In many ways, Erling Haaland's recent struggles in form accurately reflect what the entire Manchester City team is going through. At first, many people thought that this was just a small incident and they would soon overcome it. However, Man City fans are still waiting for that to happen.
Both Haaland and The Citizens had an extremely impressive opening period of the 2024-2025 season. The Norwegian striker has scored 10 goals in just his first five Premier League games. However, when Man City started to take a turn, Haaland was no longer himself.
In fact, the player who scored the most goals in the Premier League last season only scored 3 goals in the last 13 matches, coinciding with the time when Man City's form declined. Notably, Haaland's expected goals (xG) over that period was 8.2. This shows how wasteful the Citizens striker is.
nothing sums up Haaland's recent pain better than the missed penalty against Everton. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford guessed correctly to block Haaland's weak shot. It is worth mentioning that this was the first time the striker saw the goalkeeper block one of his 16 penalty kicks in the Premier League.
In the match against Everton, coach Pep Guardiola used a 4-1-4-1 formation, in which Haaland played the role of a striker. In addition to the Norwegian striker, there is the support of Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Savinho.
Apart from the missed penalty, Haaland had very few chances and was completely blocked by Everton's central defenders Jarrad Branthwaite and James Tarkowski. In fact, the 24-year-old player showed significant efforts but every time he had a chance, he wasted it.
This was Haaland's fourth consecutive goalless draw in all competitions. In his last 13 Premier League appearances, the Norwegian international has taken a total of 47 shots but only scored three goals.
Obviously, Guardiola's team needs the 24-year-old striker to regain his best form soon, otherwise their poor form streak could last until 2025.
"I have no opinion on the rankings at the moment. If you ask me about the way I play, Man City have done well in the past. Football is about winning, scoring and not conceding. We haven't done that for more than a month and a half," Guardiola said after the draw with Everton.
