Guardiola Admits Difficulty Managing Haaland Workload as Man City Striker’s Goals Dry Up

Pep Guardiola has acknowledged he is struggling to find a way to rest Erling Haaland, admitting Manchester City “need” their leading scorer despite the striker enduring a rare dip in form.

Haaland has scored just once in his last seven appearances, a sharp contrast to the blistering start he made to the season, during which he netted 24 goals in his first 23 matches across all competitions. Nevertheless, the Norwegian remains indispensable to Guardiola, who has relied heavily on the forward throughout the campaign.

The 24-year-old has made 30 appearances for City this season — second only to Tijjani Reijnders’ 31 — but has accumulated more minutes than any other player in the squad. Haaland has spent 2,480 minutes on the pitch, 239 more than anyone else, and has started every match bar one.

Guardiola’s limited options in attack have left him with little room for rotation. Haaland is City’s only senior, out-and-out striker, and while Omar Marmoush is viewed as his natural understudy, the Egyptian forward has been unavailable due to his involvement at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Marmoush is not expected to return in time for City’s Champions League clash away to Bodo/Glimt on Tuesday, after his AFCON campaign in Morocco concluded with a missed penalty in Nigeria’s victory in the third-place play-off.

“I don’t think so,” Guardiola said when asked about Marmoush’s availability. “We need Erling and we need everyone. I don’t know when Omar comes back and Erling is going to play. Erling is so important for us — we are lucky to have him and for what he has done.

“We’ll see what happens in the next game. We have to travel to Norway now and see how the players recover — not just physically. I can smell how they feel.”

Further Injury Concerns for City

City’s challenges were compounded at the weekend by an injury scare involving Phil Foden, who was forced off with a suspected broken hand during Saturday’s Manchester derby defeat.

Guardiola did strengthen his attacking options earlier this month with the £62.5 million signing of Antoine Semenyo. However, the winger is ineligible for City’s next two Champions League fixtures, against Bodo/Glimt and Galatasaray, limiting his immediate impact.

Despite the squad’s absences, Guardiola was keen to avoid placing blame on those unavailable, particularly Marmoush.

“Omar is an exceptional player,” he added. “But it would be very poor of me to say we didn’t get results against Manchester United or the previous match because Omar was not here. That wouldn’t be fair on him, not fair on the team, or on the players who are here every day trying to do their job.”

With key fixtures approaching and Haaland continuing to shoulder a heavy workload, Guardiola faces a delicate balancing act as City look to rediscover their cutting edge while managing fatigue within the squad.