Bournemouth manager Scott Parker says Erling Haaland has given opposition managers a whole new problem to consider when playing Manchester City.
Haaland was largely kept quiet in City's 4-0 win over Bournemouth, although he did use his strength to play a fine one-two with Ilkay Gundogan to break the deadlock for the first goal. And with Haaland occupied by Bournemouth's deep-lying defence, the likes of Gundogan, Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne were given space to run into and score the three unanswered goals before half-time.
Pep Guardiola said after the game that while the Blues need to work on getting Haaland more involved, space will open up for City's attacking midfielders if the opposition put more players on the new striker. And Bournemouth manager Parker opened up on that challenge, explaining how the tough challenge of playing the champions has just gone up a level.
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"It’s not just Haaland. For me, it’s 11 players on that pitch with Man City and that quality that they have," Parker explained.
"I get why people would highlight one player in Haaland – new signing and obviously an exceptional centre-forward. But you see the quality all over their pitch really.
"De Bruyne’s goal and the quality that they possess, Foden, Gundogan. You focus on one player and there’s another one popping up who is going to cause you problems. That’s just the way it is. As a team and as a unit, you need to do what you can do.
"One million per cent, they are the best team [he's ever seen], just everything about them. Most well-coached team. Functionally, technically, just everything about their game model is just very difficult to play against. It’s not just the quality of what they’re playing at as well. They obviously dominate the ball, but at that point, large parts of your game you need certain profile in your team to be able to hurt them.
"Nine times out of 10, when you’re a team like us, it’s going to be counter, it’s going to be transitions, and you need a certain player profile to get you up the pitch.
"The pitch becomes so big for opposition teams and even then, positionally they’re so well coached that you often find they’ve always got it locked down. And then obviously on the flip side, they’ve got their positions in the attacking phase, which can hurt and they’re committed to them."
Parker also said City boss Guardiola is underestimated for what he has built at City, adding: "He is someone who is exceptional in what he does really.
"He goes underestimated. Mad to say that really, what I’m saying. But I get people can see the quality, see the money one team is spending in Man City, but when you analyse that team and how well they’re coached and how functional they are in every aspect, it is pretty remarkable and that’s definitely down to him."
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