Micah Richards has suggested that a certain Manchester City player was basically anonymous against Arsenal.
Despite the contest between Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta’s side built up to be a potentially pulsating affair, in reality, it was simply a scoreless draw.
Both teams struggled to carve out too many dangerous chances and a majority of the players on the pitch were far from their brilliant best.
All the talk around City’s home advantage potentially playing a massive role in the result was also proven untrue as they dropped two points on Sunday.
Micah Richards says Manchester City striker Erling Haaland “needed to do more” against Arsenal
The hosts were the dominant team on the day, with 73% possession on the day against one of the most in-form teams in Europe.
However, their attacking approach in particular was far too risk-averse and they seemingly lacked ideas in the final third.
After Manchester City were held to a 0-0 draw by Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium, Micah Richards hinted at the fact that Erling Haaland was simply far too uninvolved in proceedings.
“[Erling] Haaland made plenty of different runs but the link-up play was non-existent. Haaland needed to do more. [William] Saliba and Gabriel [Magalhaes] had him in their pockets”, he said on Sky Sports.
As per Sofascore, the £51 million man just had 23 touches of the ball against the Gunners.
Erling Haaland should have been tasked to drop deeper against Mikel Arteta’s side
In our view, while Micah Richards has a point, it did not seem like Manchester City had planned for Erling Haaland to come short and pick up the ball against Arsenal.
Instead, it seemed like the 23-year-old was instructed to stay up the pitch and play on the shoulders of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.
In several games last season, like in the FA Cup final against Manchester United, Haaland was instructed to drop deep and get involved in the build-up play.
The Norwegian fared well in deeper areas and perhaps such a tactic would have led to positive outcomes against Arsenal, drawing their centre-backs out of position.
But such a ploy was not employed by City as Haaland had a quiet game.