The Spanish captain put his trust in only Erling Haaland, although in his hands he still had other options in the center of the position.
As one of the key factors in Argentina’s success at the World Cup, and at a very young age, it is obvious that Julian Alvarez is expected to return to Manchester City and make a breakthrough in his career. This was further reinforced when his teacher, Pep Guardiola, hinted at the possibility of considering using both Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez.
“I have used the formation with the false 9 for most of my coaching career. However, he (Julian Alvarez) can absolutely play in the central position. It is possible (ability to use 2). striker), Julian will help us increase the pace of football” , Pep once shared after the 2022 World Cup ended. He witnessed the brilliant shine of his student and gradually shaped how to use Alvarez.
However, things did not go as expected of the young Argentine striker. Despite being the World Cup champion, Julian Alvarez still sharpened his crotch on the bench. After returning from Qatar, the player born in 2000 only had 9 appearances with 471 minutes of play. This number is much less than Erling Haaland, in the same period of time, the Norwegian striker has 14 appearances, 1027 minutes of play.
Pep is prioritizing the appearance of Haaland, after all, this is the main striker who contributes the most to the team’s scoring record. But the shortcoming is that there were times when Haaland began to show signs of slowing down, and Pep still did not give Alvarez a chance, despite the striker’s desire to play.
In the last match against RB Leipzig, for the first time since leading Man City in the Premier League and Champions League, Pep did not exercise any right to change people, while he had absolutely every reason to do so. opposite. Erling Haaland completely turned off the power in front of the RB Leipzig defense with only 1 shot being launched.
Almost the same is the 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest. Haaland had an ineffective performance when he missed a series of ten opportunities, but Pep still did not make any adjustments in the center position. Instead, he just threw Alvarez on the field in the 88th minute to replace Kevin De Bruyne.
Man City have not won in the last two matches, it’s time for Pep to change to give opportunities to other factors. Phil Foden or Julian Alvarez are the resources to be exploited during this period. Because Erling Haaland is good, but if too dependent on the Norwegian striker, Man City becomes very predictable.
