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Quiz question: aside from Erling Haaland, who has scored the most goals for Manchester City in the Premier League this season?
The answer might surprise you, but then maybe it won’t, given Pep Guardiola is talking about the need for his attackers to ‘step up’ around the opponent’s box.
Maxime Esteve, Burnley’s lynchpin at the back, takes the rather dubious honour. His two own goals as City beat the Clarets 5-1 last month puts him ahead of Phil Foden, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki and Matheus Nunes.
That City are the division’s top scorers alongside Tottenham and Chelsea only further highlights the Haaland phenomenon. And though the burden is something he relishes, easing it is hardly going to harm the Norwegian.
Reijnders and Cherki both scored on the opening day at Wolves, so it’s two goals from City players outside of Haaland’s numbers in the last eight games. In no way is that sustainable. City know it, Guardiola knows it. They need the wingers to start chipping in, for Foden to convert some encouraging displays into more goals, for Cherki and Omar Marmoush to come back firing from injuries.
On current form, Haaland is on course to reach 46 this year. That would obliterate his own record of 36 in a Premier League season. He will not manage that. His output will slow down at some point. Even when breaking that record in his debut year, Haaland drew a blank in 12 of his 35 appearances. It happens - he can’t launch Tomahawks every week. And when his aim strays, the cavalry need to arrive.
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Haaland had two chances at Aston Villa on Sunday: one when clean through, with which he should have done better, and the other a difficult header, asked to generate power on a looping cross.
City’s performance was not the end of the world, especially on the ball, and they probably deserved something from the defeat. Although the display lacked the zip they have at their finest, Guardiola saw things he liked.
Ezri Konsa blocked Foden when he’d found a pocket to strike; Amadou Onana threw himself at a Foden shot; Villa twice stopped Savinho efforts as City piled on pressure; Jeremy Doku crosses didn’t quite fall; Haaland had a goal ruled out for offside late on.
When Guardiola talks about the ‘little details’, this is what he’s focusing on. ‘We made the crosses, how many times did Phil or Tijjani attack?’ Guardiola said. ‘We were there, we were close. I had the feeling in other games we won we were not so productive.’
It’s an inexact science but in years gone by, does Ilkay Gundogan crash into the box to pinch an equaliser? Or Raheem Sterling cut inside off the left to find the far corner? Kevin De Bruyne might nick a free-kick under a wall. The list of those goalscorers, those who would regularly post between eight and 12 goals a year, is seemingly endless. That last bit, that nous and that skill of timing, is one of the only aspects missing at the moment.
City now have a raft of young attackers, and are waiting for a couple of them to catch fire. Savinho, Doku and Oscar Bobb – the three wide men utilised by Guardiola until Marmoush’s late substitute appearance – have yet to register a league goal between them. They have five assists, Doku accounting for three.
Savinho was handed a new contract after flirting with the idea of moving to Tottenham, some senior figures at City blocking the move and pointing to the Brazilian’s high ceiling. He improved dramatically in Villarreal in midweek yet flattered to deceive at Villa Park.
‘We tried tactically and in individual performances to get duels with him, with the power we showed,’ Unai Emery said of the plan to thwart Haaland. ‘Then we had some help from defensive cover.’
Tijjani Reijnders shoots to no avail at Villa Park and the midfielder admits he has to start chipping in with more goals
Haaland needs help in the City goalscoring department from his team-mates
If Haaland drags that defensive cover with him, then it’s up to others elsewhere to make hay. ‘We need more goals from other players, including me,’ Reijnders said. ‘We all want to score and we arrive in good moments but the ball doesn’t want to go in sometimes. It will be fine, I’m pretty sure about that.’
With seven goals in 16 league games at the back end of last season, Marmoush has shown that he will be crucial in helping make up the shortfall. Cherki’s best haul for Lyon in Ligue 1 was eight but in this team ought to improve on those numbers. Those two have featured for just 246 minutes so far.
Foden, who recorded 30 league goals in the two seasons prior to last year, is threatening to catch fire again.
In a goals sense, these players should not be the problem. Neither should Reijnders, who can expect to nudge in five or more with the way he plays further forward. Rodri actually gets his fair share.
Title winners need everybody to chip in and the lowest number of goals scored by the champions of this league since Guardiola’s arrival came from City in 2021, when they won it without a recognised striker. Gundogan managed 13 as City netted 83. Fifteen others scored, eight finishing on four or more.
A healthy spread and that is effectively what teams want: the largest possible number between their top scorer and the cumulative tally for everybody else. Last year was the lowest ever under Guardiola at just 50 (Haaland 22, City 72 overall).
Arguably their most fluid side, the Centurions, had a gap of 85 between Sergio Aguero’s 21 and the rest.
The current count stands at six after nine games, including poor Esteve’s brace. Carry on like this and that key statistic would be around 25 goals between Haaland and the rest for the season.
It will not go on at this current rate but that number needs to stretch if they are to really chip away at Arsenal.
