Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has admitted his form is not good enough after his side were beaten 2-1 at Aston Villa on Saturday.
The defeat at Villa Park saw Villa slump to a sixth defeat in eight Premier League games, dropping Pep Guardiola's side to sixth in the league, nine points behind title rivals Liverpool, who also have two games in hand. The Premier League champions have now also recorded their ninth defeat in twelve games in all competitions.
As City's points dried up, Haaland failed to score in his last three games. The Norwegian striker has found the back of the net once in his last six games in all competitions.
The two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner's struggles in front of goal were further highlighted as he managed just one goal in the opposition area against Villa.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the match, Haaland gave an honest assessment of his performance and admitted that confidence is difficult to find.
“First I look at myself: I didn't do things well enough,” he said.
“I didn't score my chances, so I have to do better. A lot of it is me and I haven't been good enough. Of course.” [confidence is] not the best. We know how important trust is and you can see that it affects every person. That's the way it is, we have to keep going and stay positive even though it is difficult.”
Haaland's boss Pep Guardiola is suffering his worst ever spell as a manager, but City's number 9 remains confident he can turn things around.
“He will find the solutions,” Haaland said.
“He won the Premier League six times in seven years, so we will never forget that. We still believe in him, we have to work harder now than ever.”
Guardiola was asked about Haaland's comments during his post-match press conference but does not agree with his striker's comments.
“Without him we would be even worse,” Guardiola said.
“I don't agree with him, but I want players to feel like this is the only chance we have to get better. There are two options.” [to be self-critical]the other is to blame those on your side. That depends on them.
“We tried, but in the end he has to get the right balls in the right positions.”
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