'Without him...' - Pep Guardiola backs his star striker Erling Haaland amidst crisis

Norwegian striker Erling Haaland had publicly backed manager Pep Guardiola to address the ongoing crisis at Manchester City, despite the team suffering their sixth defeat in eight Premier League matches.

With a disheartening record of nine losses in 12 matches, Guardiola’s Manchester City is facing a tough time in their pursuit of the Premier League title. However, Haaland remained steadfast in his support for Guardiola, who has successfully led the team to six league titles in just seven years.

Erling Haaland did not meet his usual standards in the match against Aston Villa, where he failed to register a single shot and managed only one touch in the opposition box as his team lost 2-1. Haaland acknowledged his recent lack of form and emphasized that there is work to be done.

“The first [person] I’m looking at is myself, I haven’t been doing things good enough, I haven’t been scoring my chances and everything. I have to do better, it’s a lot on me and I haven’t been good enough.” Haaland said.

Pep Guardiola Backs his Striker 

Guardiola firmly backed the Norwegian striker, standing by him despite his recent self-critical remarks regarding his form. Manchester City has also faced elimination from the Carabao Cup and has dropped out of the Premier League's top four, putting their place in the next edition of the Champions League at risk.

"I’m not agreeing with him. Without him we would be even worse. But I like the players feeling that way. It’s the only chance that we have to get better. There are two options: judge yourself or blame. I’m not agreeing with Erling because we tried and at the end he needs to deliver the right balls in the right spots. We will recover and fight for the next one.” Pep said.