Kyle Walker insists Erling Haaland is a not a problem for Manchester City
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Kyle Walker has leapt to the defence of Manchester City forward Erling Haaland after he fired another blank (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)
Kyle Walker has leapt to the defence of Manchester City forward Erling Haaland following Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Tottenham.
Premier League top goalscorer Haaland cut a frustrated figure in the capital and failed to have a single shot on target.
Haaland has scored 31 goals in 28 appearances since a summer switch from Borussia Dortmund, with 25 of them in the top flight but City remain five points behind leaders Arsenal after their fourth league loss of the campaign.
“I think it’s a process,” Walker said of Haaland’s adaptation.
“Everyone that has come to Manchester City, I have been here for six years, it is a difficult team to fit in because the manager (Pep Guardiola) demands so much.
“The way we play is unique but, listen, Erling has been fantastic. No-one says anything about Erling when he is scoring goals, everyone all of a sudden is now when we don’t win and he doesn’t score are saying ‘is it a problem or do we play better without Erling?’
“I hear it all the time but he has got I think 25 goals already this season. He’s a fantastic player, this is the team we’ve got and the players we’ve got from now until the end of the season so we’re going to fight like we always do.”
Haaland enjoyed a phenomenal start to life at City and struck three hat-tricks during the first half of the campaign.
He hit another treble against Wolves last month but has failed to score in five of his last seven matches.
City missed out on the chance to close the gap to Arsenal to two points after this latest defeat to Tottenham.
But Walker told Sky Sports: “They dropped points and we needed to pick up points to close the gap but there is still a lot of football to play.
“I have been here many, many years in the Premier League and I know the twists and turns that can happen.
“I know what this team is about and what this team can do. We can go on a run from now until the end of the season and it is just about doing it.”