Pep Guardiola explains how Erling Haaland will make Phil Foden think differently at Man City

Pep Guardiola is not bothered by Phil Foden failing to find Erling Haaland in the box in recent matches.

Foden passed up a golden opportunity to square the ball for a Haaland tap-in against Bournemouth before a less obvious opportunity against Newcastle. He shot both times instead and, having failed to beat the goalkeeper, has attracted the ire of some fans online for his decisions.

Pointing out that he expects the England star to score plenty of goals in the attack, Guardiola pointed to a similar incident last season when Foden could have passed the ball but instead rifled the ball past Alisson Becker to earn City a 2-2 draw at Anfield that ultimately helped them beat Liverpool to the title. However, he also reflected that the 22-year-old and his teammates are not used to having a No.9 in their thoughts when they take decisions.

Also read: Pep Guardiola gives injury update on three City players vs Crystal Palace

"The two similar actions, remember when we play in Anfield, the 2-2, the pass from Kevin or Gabriel I think it was, he shot at the goal and scored, it was a quite similar action," said Guardiola. "But in that moment maybe he feel we don’t play with a proper, proper striker, but now we know, in that situation that Erling is always there - Julian as well - and he will realise that.

"He can shoot because Phil is going to score a lot of goals in that position, and I want that, but now he will know and he will review the images and he will see that in that position, always Erling is there. The second goal at Camp Nou with the overlap from Joao, we had two or three players (in the box) and Cole was there (to score), and Erling is always there, it’s his biggest talent. It’s a question of time, like I’ve said many