Man City powerless as Haaland is tightly marked

28/10/2025 15:18:00 pandatv

Aston Villa has just revealed the "simple yet effective" formula to render Man City ordinary: tightly marking Erling Haaland. Once the Norwegian striker is isolated, Pep Guardiola’s scoring machine immediately stops functioning.

The 0-1 defeat at Villa Park marks Man City’s third loss in just nine matches. More importantly, it exposes a serious issue: everything at City now hinges entirely on Haaland.

Man City's fatal weakness

During the 90 minutes against Aston Villa, Haaland touched the ball only four times inside the penalty area. Unai Emery fully understands how to counter the world’s top striker. He assigned center-backs Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa to shadow Haaland closely, while Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara provided support from midfield, ready to press whenever the Norwegian forward dropped deep. "We needed everything to stop him: tactics, fitness, teammates’ support, and even the goalkeeper," Emery admitted after the match.

With every method used to block Haaland, Man City had no other options. Attackers like Phil Foden, Savinho, and later Doku and Cherki struggled on the wings, delivering crosses in vain, leaving Martinez barely tested.

The worrying fact is that City has scored 17 goals in the Premier League this season, with 11 of those by Haaland, and the second highest scorer... is an own goal (2 goals). Beyond Haaland, only Foden, Reijnders, Cherki, and Nunes have scored one goal each. A troubling statistic: in three consecutive Premier League games, no one but Haaland has scored for Man City.

This dependence gives Guardiola a headache. "We only lack finishing," Pep said. But anyone watching the match knows the problem lies not just in finishing, but also in the creative deadlock.

English football is used to seeing Man City pressing high, making sharp short passes, and scoring almost routinely. At Villa Park, City held more possession (53%) and took twice as many shots (18 compared to 9), yet their expected goals (xG) was only 1.18. They passed and held the ball a lot, but mostly around the flanks, failing to create any breakthroughs.

Man City is overly reliant on Haaland

Pep still lacks a solution

Villa did not press all over the pitch like many teams do against City. Instead, they simply set up a compact low block defense and waited for counterattack chances, maximizing mistakes or impatience from their opponents. Just one set-piece — a cleverly arranged corner kick — was enough for Matty Cash to score, a goal that gave Villa their third consecutive home win over City.

That goal forced City to attack, and then all their plays were directed towards Haaland. But when the Norwegian "giant" was contained, City resembled a mid-table team struggling to break through Emery’s iron wall.

In fact, this is not the first time Man City has been figured out. Previously, Brighton and Tottenham also neutralized Haaland by forcing him to move far from the box and denying City’s midfielders space to pass. Without service, Haaland became a "statue" on the field — strong but helpless.

Pep Guardiola still tries to defend his players and tactics. But the reality is a Man City lacking breakthroughs and alternative plans. Guardiola no longer has creative players capable of changing the game’s course, making his team more predictable than ever.

This defeat leaves Man City 6 points behind Arsenal, who are playing pragmatically but effectively. With the Gunners’ consistent form, that gap could widen quickly if City continues to rely solely on Haaland.

Ironically, even as Guardiola tries to stay calm, he knows better than anyone that all signs of past crises are returning. Last season, City endured a 9-game winless streak in 12 matches, partly due to numerous injuries and partly because the squad was exhausted after years of consecutive titles. To remedy the situation, the club spent nearly £180 million in the January transfer window.

This year, they have new signings like Reijnders, Cherki, Ait-Nouri, Marmoush, and Donnarumma, yet Pep’s system still revolves solely around Haaland.

Man City's goal-scoring this season is almost entirely dependent on Erling Haaland. The Norwegian striker has netted 11 Premier League goals, accounting for nearly 65% of the team’s total (17 goals). Alarmingly, the second highest scorer for City is not even a club player — Burnley defender Maxime Esteve, who scored two own goals at Etihad. Meanwhile, attacking stars like Foden, Reijnders, Nunes, and Cherki have each scored only one goal. 1 goal. This imbalance makes City fragile: if Haaland is absent, they almost have no effective alternative.

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