Erling Haaland was embroiled in a row with Arsenal rivals after Manchester City slipped to defeat at the Emirates Stadium after an uncharacteristically below-par performance from the champions
Erling Haaland was furious as Man City slipped to defeat at Arsenal
When, a short while after the final whistle, there was a bit of a ruck at the mouth of the tunnel, it was no wonder Erling Haaland got involved.
After all, he had to get involved in proceedings at some point, albeit only when the stadium was emptying to the raucous sound of celebration. Haaland’s frustration was understandable, the insignificance of his contribution to City’s cause a symbol of his team’s strictly mediocre performance.
Admittedly, their standards are sky-high but this was still a rub-your-eyes sight - a Pep Guardiola side struggling to put together an attacking move of any style, of any note. Nathan Ake had a chance from a rare Haaland flick but that was about it.
Four attempts on goal, only one on target. That is normally the story of City’s opening five minutes.
Mikel Arteta’s men were hard-working and marginally more threatening than the opposition in what was a quite shockingly low-quality contest, but Guardiola had to take responsibility for a second Premier League defeat on the spin.
Yes, there are key injuries and while Rodri’s absence has been keenly felt, the man whose unavailability is the biggest setback for City is Kevin De Bruyne. For all the plaudits given to the Belgian over his years under Guardiola, his importance to Pep’s project has probably been consistently understated.
It is those reverse passes, those ingenious short defence-splitting balls that City miss most. And, boy, did they miss them at The Emirates.
But Guardiola has enough talented resources to compensate for two key absentees. Yet his deep deployment of Bernardo Silva and his selection of Rico Lewis in an advanced role simply did not work.
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The only meaningful contribution from Mateo Kovacic was to send social media into a frenzy with a nasty challenge on Martin Odegaard. For what it is worth, I was in a minority of one who thought Michael Oliver’s yellow card was sufficient punishment.
Since when has there been this countrywide clamour for players to be sent off or given a yellow card? The Kovacic foul was a nasty one but, instantly, it just looked like a caution rather than a dismissal.
Slowed down, it seemed a little worse but Oliver and the VAR, John Brooks, got this one right. Kovacic could have got a second yellow and it must have crossed Guardiola’s mind to take him off at half-time.
He did not and City continued to lack creativity. They were crying out for a maverick moment or two yet Jack Grealish remained in his seat.
Instead, the game ended with Ederson pumping route-one balls into the mixer. Not a sight you would expect to see … but this was not a City you would expect to see.
And, no doubt, the frustrated Haaland would agree.
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