Guardiola admits he can’t do with Haaland what he did with Messi: The Manchester City star is ‘too good’ for that
Just as Lionel Messi dominated European soccer for years with his goals and records, Erling Haaland is now doing the same in the Premier League. Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola spoke about the Norwegian striker’s impact and how his team has adapted to him.
During the press conference ahead of the UEFA Champions League clash against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, Guardiola was asked how he managed to build a system around Haaland that works so efficiently. Pep admitted that it hasn’t been a challenge at all.
“I played with false-9 with (Lionel) Messi. I played with false-9 with (Robert) Lewandowski, I played that way with Sergio Aguero and here with Phil Foden,” the coach recalled, reflecting on past experiences in his career. “Now with Erling we cannot play that way because he is too good.”
Indeed, Haaland’s unique qualities make major tactical adjustments unnecessary. He’s a classic center forward — tall, strong, with excellent positioning instincts and finishing ability. On top of that, he brings an unusual level of technical skill for a player of his size.
“I always try to organize the team to allow him to run as little as possible,” Guardiola later admitted. “He is so big and cannot play 90 minutes every three days and make the big actions. I don’t want that… But when that is not possible, he has to help us and he is helping us.”
Guardiola praises Haaland
In the same press conference, Pep made it clear that he’s extremely satisfied with what Haaland has brought to Manchester City. “It is difficult to find a real, real world-class player that is incredibly humble and thinks what is the best for the team,” said the Spanish coach.
“Normally a striker just thinks of goals, goals, goals. Of course he has to score goals, that is obviously clear,” Guardiola acknowledged before pointing out how Manchester City’s long-term planning has allowed Haaland to take a broader view of his objectives: “He signed a contract for 10 years and the more he is involved in many things will be better for him and the club.”
Guardiola’s center forwards
Throughout his coaching career, Guardiola has made unconventional decisions with his strikers. Early in his tenure at Barcelona, he had Samuel Eto’o, a prolific forward who was in excellent form. However, just a few months into the 2008–09 season, the coach decided to use Lionel Messi in that position, giving birth to the “false 9” system that became one of his most successful tactical innovations.
In the following years, other forwards at Barcelona had to adapt to Pep’s plan. Some did so successfully, like David Villa, while others — such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic — lasted only a short time at the club.
In his later experiences, Guardiola occasionally kept that same idea. At Bayern Munich, he initially worked with Mario Mandzukic and Claudio Pizarro, until Robert Lewandowski arrived in 2014. And when he took over at Manchester City, the coach inherited Sergio Aguero, the team’s undisputed star at the time, but gradually reduced his role until Aguero’s departure in 2021. The arrival of Haaland, of course, changed everything — and since then, there’s been no debate about who owns that position.