Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola launched a playful jibe at Erling Haaland after the Norwegian’s brace helped the Blues beat Everton 2-0 on Saturday.
Haaland scored his 13th and 14th goals in all competitions for Manchester City this season, as City continued their good form and broke Everton’s resistance to claim another three points and stake a claim in the Premier League title conversation.
The 25-year-old is enjoying the best run of his career and is single-handedly dragging Manchester City down each week, much to the concern of Guardiola, who has repeatedly admitted that his team is on a tightrope due to its over-reliance on Haaland.
Nico O’Reilly created the first goal when he found space on the left side of the Everton box to provide a delicate cross for Haaland, who rose highest and headed the opener past Jordan Pickford to continue his brilliant goalscoring record at home against the Toffees.
When he starts he can’t seem to stop and there aren’t many defenses in world football that can cope with Haaland in the form he is in, with the Leeds-born star scoring his second goal five minutes after his first goal when he unleashed a powerful shot past Pickford after Savinho’s cutback to end the game.
City cut a frustrated figure in attack in the first half as Everton did well to keep the hosts at bay and deny Haaland the chance to feed off the scraps, although the Toffees’ resistance was broken in the second half when the Norwegian decided to take matters into his own hands.
Haaland left the field devastated after wasting three clear scoring opportunities that would have secured another Manchester City hat-trick – such is the difference the 25-year-old is making for a Blues team evidently devoid of goal threat when Haaland is not being fed.
Manchester City were not considered title contenders at the start of the season and even the most optimistic fans were given a reality check after the Blues suffered defeats to Tottenham and Brighton in their opening trio of 2025-26 Premier League matches in August.
However, Haaland has single-handedly set Manchester City back in the title race and, as long as the Norwegian is fit and in top form, City cannot be ruled out winning a fifth Premier League title in six seasons.
Guardiola will be very careful with managing Haaland’s workload as the season progresses and, despite Haaland bailing City out of jail once again, the Manchester City manager managed to have fun with Haaland’s misses at the end of a post-match interview.
Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester after the match, Guardiola said: “I’m really pissed because he (Haaland) could have scored four or five, and he scored two!
“Joking aside, we can’t completely trust him, we need other players; wingers, attacking midfielders, others… they have to step up to score goals!”
City cannot afford to lose Haaland to injury and Guardiola, with his coaching staff, will work behind the scenes to find ways to distribute the goals amid concerns about City’s increasing and unsustainable dependence on Haaland to score each week.