Guardiola coaching Haaland on the pitch: All for show or a valuable intervention?

“It’s all for show,” Roy Keane opined, typically, as footage of Pep Guardiola’s post-match debrief with Erling Haaland was shown.

Haaland had just scored twice in Manchester City’s resounding 3-0 victory in the Manchester derby and it was time for celebration.

As Old Trafford emptied, Guardiola and the City players revelled in their triumph in front of the away supporters, who had, in truth, got the party started long before the final whistle.

Three of them stayed longer than the rest, soaking it up as long as possible: Guardiola, who blew a kiss back at those serenading him, and the goalscorers, Haaland and Phil Foden.

And, as they walked the full length of the pitch back towards the tunnel, Guardiola quickly switched back to business mode: he had some feedback for Haaland regarding his headers, one of which was brilliantly saved by Andre Onana in the first half and one of which was scored in the second.

It is not clear exactly what Guardiola’s point is, but the gestures of the two men show that the power of the headers was on the agenda; the one that was missed was more powerful, but the one that was scored came at the very top of Haaland’s jump, causing a more cushioned effort that glided above Onana.

There was a dismissive wave of the arm from Haaland, too, showing that was the kind of frank conversation that happens a lot between managers and players, albeit usually behind closed doors.

And that was Keane’s point. He was asked what would be the benefit of staging such a conversation in public but only suggested that they “get in the dressing room and enjoy their victory”.

But for Guardiola, it is not for show: this is a man whose emotions run extremely high and a man who knows perfection will never be achieved — but tries anyway.

In fact, he stopped his own celebrations of City’s opening goal in a crunch game against Arsenal last April once he remembered that Ederson had almost played his team into trouble.

The game plan was for Ederson to play the ball into City’s midfield, but he passed it square to John Stones down in his own corner, forcing Stones to kick the ball long. Haaland won the header and Kevin De Bruyne scored an important goal in an important game, but there is almost nothing that could stop Guardiola from wanting to correct the minor details and he admonished Ederson for playing the wrong pass, even if it had eventually led to a goal.

Funnily enough, pundits have used that goal as an example of City’s willingness to play more directly in their pursuit of the treble last season, but Guardiola’s actions show that the plan is to play short — and that you should always stick to the plan.

“It is brutal sometimes,” Haaland has said about his many conversations with Guardiola. “It is not always pleasant,” he said on another occasion.

Sunday was not even the first time that the two men had exchanged ideas in full view of the television cameras: on the Premier League’s opening night, with City 2-0 up at Burnley and Haaland twice on the scoresheet, Guardiola berated him at half-time after the Norwegian himself had berated Bernardo Silva for not passing him the ball.

There is always a logic to it.

“He wants the ball to him all the time, man to man, one on one. ‘Give me the balls in behind and I’m going to do it’,” Guardiola explained that night. “But when you have two or three minutes left and Mateo Kovacic goes in behind and we lose the ball, and Rodri loses the ball… Erling wanted that ball and Bernardo was correct not to give him that ball. It’s not an incident. It’s a connection to do exactly what it is we need to do.”

And Haaland would not have it any other way. “This is what I want, I want this hunger, after winning the treble two months ago, first game of the season, at half-time, this is what I love,” he said after the final whistle at Turf Moor.

“Sometimes Pep is a bit scary,” the striker said during another interview, where he also discussed how he has always enjoyed arguments with his demanding dad, Alfie.

“But again, Alfie Haaland can be a bit scary. But I like it when Pep shouts at me, he tries to get something in my brain that you don’t think I have. I like it, I’m not complaining, he just wants to make me better.”

Guardiola has that kind of relationship with players: after City won the FA Cup in 2019 by beating Watford 6-0, he gave Raheem Sterling, who scored twice, the on-pitch treatment while they waited to get their medals.

De Bruyne even turned and told Guardiola to shut up during the rout of Real Madrid in May.

“I love it when we shout at each other,” Guardiola later said. “I like it. Sometimes it’s a little bit flat, I like this energy. It’s not the first time, you don’t see, but he shouts at me in training. After that, he becomes the best.”

And it is the same with Haaland: “He accepts it and copes with it very well,” the Catalan says. “There are players who feel offended when you say something. Then you have to be more careful what you say. And then you have players where it doesn’t matter because they understand that I want the best for them.”

That is the nub of it, and if we accept that City are as good as they have been (and for so long) because of Guardiola’s insights and coaching, then it is tempting to believe that moments like these are all part of the process.

Not that Guardiola particularly likes them.

“I’m not always so proud when I scream like that during matches or on the way into the break,” he explained earlier this season. “What happened in Burnley, for example, I am not proud of.

“As a player, I was the same as I am now as a manager — I act on instinct, I explode. I should control myself and have to take a few laps with myself. I’m ashamed. But it is what it is.”

It is commonly accepted by his former players that working with Guardiola is extremely exhausting but extremely rewarding, and ultimately it is what they buy into, the lows and the many highs.

“They know that I want their best,” Guardiola said. “I have to give them a clear message if they are going to improve something. If not, what is the point of being here?”

Say what you want about these impromptu, very public coaching opportunities, but they are certainly genuine.

(Top photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)