Pep Guardiola firmly backed Erling Haaland, labeling him as the “best striker in the world,” in response to Roy Keane’s critique of the Manchester City forward’s effectiveness outside the box.
Keane had characterized Haaland as “almost like a League Two player” during his analysis of the striker’s display in Man City’s goalless draw against Arsenal on Sky Sports.
The Manchester City coach responded to the former Manchester United midfielder,
asserting that Keane’s assessment was incorrect and that Haaland shouldn’t be held responsible for his limited goal-scoring opportunities against Arsenal.
“I do not agree with him, absolutely not,” Guardiola told a news conference Tuesday.
“It’s like [if] I said he’s a manager for the second or third league. I don’t think so.
“He’s the best striker in the world and he helped us to win what we won last season and the reason why we don’t create many chances [against Arsenal] is not from Erling.
“We need more presence in the final third with more people and we played an exceptional game against Arsenal. I reviewed it.”
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Haaland scored 52 goals in 53 games as City won a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble last season and has followed it up with 29 goals in 35 games so far this term.
Guardiola admitted he was “surprised” to hear criticism of the 23-year-old come from Keane and suggested that former players should know better.
“From journalism I can understand because they have never been on the pitch, but the former players always I am surprised,” Guardiola said.
“It’s like the referees when they retire, they always criticise the referees. How difficult is that business for the players? That always surprises me. The memory disappears quickly.
“The problems that the players have [now], they [the pundits] had.
The lack of misactions, they missed it a thousand, million times and they were hurt when they were criticised by the former players.
“I am not a guy who is going to criticise my colleagues when I retire.”
Manchester City returns to action on Wednesday night against Aston Villa.
