Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has claimed that Manchester City striker Erling Haaland may have joined the wrong team as Pep Guardiola's side suffered a defeat against Tottenham, handing Arsenal a major boost in the title race.
Guardiola's team failed to take advantage of the Gunners losing at Everton on Saturday as they lost 1-0 at Tottenham on Sunday with Arsenal's north London rivals doing them a major favour. It was their fourth visit to Spurs' new stadium, and they are still yet to score a goal there.
Mikel Arteta's side remain top of the league with a five point advantage over second place City with the two sides set to meet at the Emirates on February 15.
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Under Guardiola, City have won the Premier League title in four of the six seasons in which the Spaniard has been in charge with some successes requiring the overcoming of a major points disadvantage. And the signing of Haaland in the summer looked to have sorted a problem after the exit of Sergio Aguero.
However, Carragher says that City have not progressed as they had hoped with the introduction of the striker, who may have made the wrong choice in opting to join Guardiola's team when leaving Borussia Dortmund.
"He was very frustrated, and I’ve felt this even when he was scoring all of his goals at the start of this season," Carragher said on Sky Sports' coverage of the match. "Obviously he’s still well ahead in the top scoring ranks, but I think we’re only seeing 60% of Erling Haaland.
"You think of that goal that he scored at West Ham on the first day of the season, where there’s space in behind and he makes that run. I know that’s not there that often because of the way City play, but he’s come from a league with Borussia Dortmund where it’s a counter attacking league, and it’s end-to-end, and you see that blistering pace he’s got. Now you don’t see it.
"He may have actually picked the wrong club to actually get the best out of him. You’re laughing, but we’re not seeing everything of Erling Haaland, and Manchester City now; not because of Erling Haaland, we can say they’re a different team, but they’ve scored exactly the same amount of goals.
"He’s scored 25 Premier League goals, but Man City as a team have scored the same amount of goals, and they’re conceding more, and it’s far easier to counter attack them as well, so they’re a different team, and a lesser team with Erling Haaland in the team.
"Again, it’s not his fault. Manchester City as a team will not play end-to-end football - it’s not Pep Guardiola’s way. His players don’t have the power, the pace or the energy to play end-to-end, they build up slowly, they push the opposition back to the edge of the box, they play from there and when they lose it they win it back quickly.
"Erling Haaland has still scored 25 Premier League goals, all of those are coming across and he’s putting them in, but we’re not seeing the full package of what this player can do because of the team he’s actually gone to."
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