After Erling Haaland scored twice at Leeds, Pep Guardiola said the Manchester City striker can get even better, referring to his all-round play in the Blues’ build-up. That was a belief he repeated on Friday, which serves an ominous warning to Premier League and European rivals that City’s 26-goal striker can be even more influential. Haaland himself said at Leeds that he was ‘p*****’ at his performance for missing three other chances, showing where he views his immediate improvement. However, teammate Bernardo Silva has given an alternative view, saying that City’s players are happy to have a player like Haaland who offers so much even without getting involved too much in City’s build-up.
Bernardo Silva said: “The thing about Erling is that he doesn’t care about touching the ball. He is one of those players that for example if you play me as a false nine or Phil Foden, after a game playing in that position it is not easy because you don’t touch the ball many times and you get frustrated because you need to touch the ball to feel a part of the game. The good thing about Erling is that he is there and if he doesn’t touch the ball for 30 minutes, but he touches it once and he scores, he is happy and delighted. To have that kind of player who is so focused on just the end of the product is great because he knows what he is there for and he does it perfectly. Just the hunger that he has to score more and more and more. You saw that he scored two [against Leeds] and he wasn’t happy because he could have scored more in that game. It is just crazy because any other player if they scored two goals would be over the moon, but he was happy and not totally happy because he felt he could have scored more which shows how ambitious he is, how focused he is to help the team and to be better every day. I am very happy we have a player like that.”
Bernardo also opened up on how Kevin De Bruyne offers another unique quality, and how he knows exactly where he needs to be when the Belgian gets within crossing range.
Bernardo Silva said: “Kevin is a very specific player in terms of when he has got the ball, you know that something can happen. If I have the ball or Gundogan has the ball it is completely different. We all know that if the ball is on Kevin’s right foot especially, you have to go in behind and make movements. It is like a click and a moment where Kevin has the ball, so Phil, Jack, Riyad, Erling etc are running in behind because they know the ball can go there. It is good to have these types of players, not only the players that control the rhythm of the game, but also these players that attack the final third and take more risks and more decisive in the end product of the game. He is a very special player and he has been doing well, not just this season but for a very, very long time.”
