Erling Haaland is back for Manchester City’s clash with Southampton on Saturday and Pep Guardiola wants to see ‘hunger’ from his players as they bid to secure Champions League qualification
Erling Haaland will return from injury on Saturday – with a warning from Pep Guardiola after claiming Manchester City’s players lost their hunger this season. Haaland’s return is a major boost to City’s hopes of securing a Champions League place, but Guardiola took issue with his claim the fallen champions were not motivated enough this season.
City’s star striker Haaland said Guardiola’s players ‘haven’t fully had the hunger inside of us’ and went on to admit that ‘in the end, we haven’t been good enough’. Haaland’s claim drew a withering reply from Guardiola, who said: “If it’s the feeling from Erling, then the players should talk to each other and ask themselves why.
“We can do better, but we’re happy with the results we’ve had [recently]. The situation we have has been sustained for many months and this [current run] is just three or four weeks.”
Haaland has missed City’s last seven games, since suffering a knee injury in their 2-1 FA Cup victory at Bournemouth on March 30. But Haaland, who has 30 goals this season despite his recent absence, could start at Southampton as City look to draw level on points with second-placed Arsenal.
Asked if Haaland, an unused sub for last week’s 1-0 win over Wolves, is ready to start, Guardiola said: “He’s ready, he’s fit. Whether he starts? We’ll decide tomorrow.”
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Guardiola was also asked to provdate an update on long-term absentees Nathan Ake, Oscar Bobb and Rodri, but none of the trio will feature in the 3pm kick-off at St Mary’s. “Still not available,” Gurdiola replied. “They’ve started training with us partially but they’re still not available.”
One player who’ll be involved is left-back Nico O’Reilly, the 20-year-old academy graduate who’s been a revelation for City this year. “The results we had without him would be difficult to imagine,” Guardiola hailed.
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“He’s played a lot of minutes, there are games where the player plays outstanding and then after don’t play, and some where they don’t play good but play the next one. There’s not a reason and there are no punishments here. Performance and many things are the reason why.
“When the game is done you analyse what you can do better but it’s forgotten. It’s the past, it’s what you can learn for the next one, especially in young players that make a regular impact in the team.”
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