Erling Haaland admits his and Manchester City's recent performances have not been good enough, but he backed manager Pep Guardiola to “find solutions”.
City have now won just one of their last 12 games following their 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa this lunchtime, with goals from John Doran and Morgan Rogers putting the home side in control before Phil Foden's late consolation.
Haaland was a marginal figure once again as City struggled to impose themselves in the face of some ferocious pressure from Villa, and the Norwegian striker acknowledged that improvement was needed, both individually and collectively.
Manchester City have now lost nine of their last 12 matches in all competitions…
This is more than in their previous 106 matches combined (8) pic.twitter.com/jpznVDfRKh
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 21, 2024
Haaland – He's not good enough
He told TNT Sports: “Of course we are disappointed, it's not good enough. It's not good enough from me.
“They are good players, it is difficult to come here but we are Manchester City and we have to be there. We have to keep going, we have to believe, and we have to keep working hard.
“We have to keep going. First, I look at myself, I didn't do things well enough, I didn't score my chances. I have to do better, I wasn't good enough.”
The defeat continues the biggest crisis in Guardiola's coaching career, but Haaland supported the Catalan coach to guide City through the storm.
He added: “He won the Premier League six times in seven years, so we will never forget that.”
“He will find solutions. He has been doing that every year. We still believe in him, and we have to work harder than ever now.
“We know how important trust is and you can see it affects every human being. That’s the way it is, we have to keep going and stay positive even though it’s difficult.”
“We struggle to score and concede goals.”
Gives Pep Guardiola @julesbreach His analysis of Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa…
@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/eTiBhWdZgf
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 21, 2024
We will regain confidence – Guardiola
Guardiola was disappointed with his team's performance in the second half.
“We had a really good first half, and we lost the second half,” he told TNT Sports. “We changed our pressing because John (Stones) couldn’t keep it going.
He added: “We had good moments, and we had chances, more chances than in the (Manchester) United match, but in the second half we retreated and our pressure was not good enough.” We found a purpose in the end, but it was too late.
“We struggle to score and concede goals.”
But he remains confident that City will emerge from this situation and regain their confidence.
He said: “Step by step, we have nice personalities in the team, and sooner or later we will find them.”