Guardiola Denies Haaland’s Disruptive Influence at Man City Ahead of Tottenham Match

• Erling Haaland is scoring for Manchester City but the club is behind in the EPL
• Pep Guardiola is facing the tough task of creating synergy between his players
• He has now hit back at those claiming the striker has disrupted the team's flow

Manchester City signed Norwegian goal machine, Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund at the start of last season.

His signing created ripples at other Premier League clubs, who feared City were about to dominate even more than they had been doing.

Pep Guardiola led the club to win four of the last five Premier League titles, two of which he had won even without a recognised striker.

With a striker like Haaland, it was expected that City would have an easier time of things, but that is not the case currently.

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While the Norwegian already has 21 league goals this season, the club sits second, eight massive points behind league leaders Arsenal.

Many pundits and fans have now claimed the striker has disrupted the team's flow.

Guardiola denies claims about Haaland

Even before Haaland signed for City, former Liverpool striker, John Barnes had claimed he was not suited to the system Guardiola had adapted to over the years, as reported by Manchester Evening News.

The words seem to be coming to pass now.

However, the former Barcelona manager hit back at such claims, while speaking ahead of the January 19 game against Tottenham, as quoted by Metro UK.

''We have played really good with him so it is not about that. To play better, to create more chances, is to provide more balls for him or the other strikers. This is what we have to work with,'' he said.

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52-year-old Guardiola ceded the team's fluidity was not like before, but it remained the duty of the coach to find solutions - not to blame others.

"When we play good, it is because of tactical reasons and when we don’t play good, it is tactical reasons. I have the duty to find the solution to that. It is not a mentality reason. This group of players? Not at all."

Guardiola charges Haaland with more

Guardiola may be going all out to defend Haaland against criticism, but he has not failed to lose sight of the striker's need to do more in games for the team.

As Sports Brief earlier reported, Guardiola demanded more from Haaland after Man City lost to their cross-town rivals, Manchester United at the weekend.

It was the third game without a goal for the Norwegian, who was also seen to have made minimal impact in terms of connecting with his teammates.