Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola once again leapt to the defence of Erling Haaland, saying the club's current crisis cannot be blamed on the misfiring striker.
Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa was the ninth in 12 matches in all competitions for City and the Norwegian forward has failed to score in five of their past six games.
The Premier League champions have slipped to seventh place in the table, having lost six times in the league, and trail leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand, by 12 points.
After the defeat at Villa Park, Haaland, who has scored 108 goals for City since signing in 2022, said: “First I’m looking at myself. I haven’t been scoring my chances. I have to do better, I haven’t been good enough.”
But ahead of their Boxing Day clash with Everton at the Etihad Stadium, his manager defended Haaland, saying “without him we will be even worse”.
The Spaniard said: “It’s about us, not just one player. When in the past we score goals and Erling was so prolific, helping us, it was because of the team.
“And when you have problems at the back, in the middle, it is for everyone, it is a team, it is not about one player. It would be easy, if it was just one player, the reason why. It’s not about that.
“Erling is so important for us, will be so important for us, has been. [We have to] try to do things better, to use him better.”
Guardiola added: “In this situation, this tendency for all of us [is to say] ‘the reason why is this one, and this one and this one’. It’s about us, about everyone.
“The guys are running, making effort more than ever. All the tendency ‘it’s because we don’t run, because we don’t fight, the reason why is this situation or this player or this manager’ … It’s not about that.
“It’s many little details or big details that make all together not as good as we were. But we have another opportunity on Boxing Day.”
Meanwhile, Everton manager Sean Dyche has said his side are in no danger of underestimating City, despite their woeful run of form.
After losing their first four games of the season, Everton are on a run of just two defeats in their past 12 matches.
But Dyche insisted that his side will still be wary of City, winners of an unprecedented four successive league titles.
“They have enjoyed so much success under Pep over the years that everybody seems to be under this impression that it's when, not if, it turns back,” said Dyche.
“I don’t know all of Pep's history, but I think it’s unlikely he’s had too many spells like this. You’d think at some point it happens, even to the best, and he is arguably one of the best ever, but for him to have a testing period actually shows how tough the game is even for the top sides.”
The Englishman added: “The details, even for the top teams, if you don't get them right, then things don't work out for you. They'll be trying to correct that.
Aston Villa 2 Manchester City 1 - in pictures
“We're in the process of correcting somewhat what we were doing. We still need to win more games, obviously, and score more goals.
“It’s not like you go there and think, ‘We’re going to win just because’. We've got to go and deliver a performance. We’ve got to play hard, we’ve got to play strong.
“They haven’t all become terrible players overnight. He [Guardiola] certainly is not a terrible manager.”
Dyche will be missing veteran full-back Ashley Young, suspended after a fifth yellow card, for the game.
But his absence means club captain Seamus Coleman is set to make his first start since the end of August following an injury-plagued campaign for the 36-year-old Irishman.
“He’s been very unlucky this season,” said Dyche. “When he came back for pre-season, super fit, we spoke about his other options and he said, ‘No, no, I’m clear-minded. I’m going to continue playing’.
“He signed another contract and he held his end of the bargain without a shadow of a doubt.”
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Florence and the Machine – High as Hope
Three stars
Champions parade (UAE timings)
7pm Gates open
8pm Deansgate stage showing starts
9pm Parade starts at Manchester Cathedral
9.45pm Parade ends at Peter Street
10pm City players on stage
11pm event ends
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELong-range%20dual%20motor%20with%20400V%20battery%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E360kW%20%2F%20483bhp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E840Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20automatic%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMax%20touring%20range%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20628km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E0-100km%2Fh%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.7sec%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETop%20speed%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20210kph%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh360%2C000%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeptember%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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THE BIO
Favourite place to go to in the UAE: The desert sand dunes, just after some rain
Who inspires you: Anybody with new and smart ideas, challenging questions, an open mind and a positive attitude
Where would you like to retire: Most probably in my home country, Hungary, but with frequent returns to the UAE
Favorite book: A book by Transilvanian author, Albert Wass, entitled ‘Sword and Reap’ (Kard es Kasza) - not really known internationally
Favourite subjects in school: Mathematics and science
