Haaland ’emotionally detached’ from Man City as concerning reason given for form

Erling Haaland is below his usual standards because he is “emotionally detached” from the Manchester City team, according to Alan Pardew. The former Premier League boss has given a reason behind the striker’s form after a largely anonymous performance against Arsenal on Sunday.

Haaland barely got a sniff at the Emirates as William Saliba in particular marshaled him well. It was the third game in a row that the Norwegian had failed to score in.

He is still the leading goalscorer in the Premier League this season, two clear of Alexander Isak and Son Heung-min. But his tally of eight goals across 12 appearances for City is below the ratio he was hitting in his debut campaign at the club.

Haaland didn’t have a single chance at Arsenal as the Gunners beat City for the first time in 15 league matches. He was involved in a pitchside altercation after the match with a staff member from the opposition.

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But Pardew says that was the most emotion Haaland showed throughout the whole afternoon. He said on talkSPORT: “Funnily enough, right at the end he gets involved with someone on the sidelines as he’s walking off the pitch.

“Actually on the pitch, he looked unemotional at times, you know, like he wasn’t in the game. Sometimes when you are a striker, I’ve had many strikers over the years that come to me and say ‘it doesn’t feel like I was in the game, gaffer’, you know, ‘I didn’t get enough of the ball’.

“You kind of become emotionally detached and I think that’s where he is with City at the moment. He looks like he’s not in the game enough to bring the best out of him.”

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Haaland got involved in an incident after Kyle Walker appeared to refuse to shake the hand of Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover. But Pep Guardiola refused to give an insight into the reasoning behind the fracas, commenting: “I know what happened but I won’t say anything. They (Arsenal) know it.”

Haaland will hope to rediscover his goalscoring touch while on international duty. Norway play Cyprus in a Euro 2024 qualifier on Thursday before hosting Spain on Sunday.

Haaland insists City will do what they can to turn results around once club action resumes. He posted on Instagram: “Not the way we wanted to go into the international break, but we will bounce back together, as always.”

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