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Guardiola says Haaland has the 'most difficult job', Hasenhuttl praises his 'fantastic group'

Michel Jreissati
Haaland failed to add to his double from the season's opener against West Ham at home to Bournemouth
Haaland failed to add to his double from the season's opener against West Ham at home to BournemouthReuters
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola insisted on showing his support to new signing Erling Haaland (22) following his goalless home debut, while Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl felt proud of his 'fantastic group' after a comeback from a 2-0 deficit to draw 2-2 against Leeds United

Guardiola praised Haaland despite the striker’s absence from the scoresheet. The Spaniard explained that his new recruit has a far from simple task on his hands, following a comfortable 4-0 victory against Bournemouth.

Haaland failed to add to his double against West Ham in the season’s opener. His boss, however, didn’t seem to be concerned.

"Erling plays the most difficult job in the world, when you are a striker against a team defending like Bournemouth with three central defenders and two players in front of them," said Guardiola. "You are in the middle, how can you survive that?

"So it is difficult, we know. And we will find many of these situations, but it is just a little bit of question of time.

"With the right movement and the right tempo, and with the quality of the players that we have behind him to assist him, we will find him - I don't have any doubts about that."

It was a day dominated by positives as City collected their second set of three points thanks to goals from Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and a Jefferson Lerma own goal.

Meanwhile, Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl felt proud of his side after coming back from a two-goal deficit to collect a point as they hosted Leeds United.

"I'm sorry that we destroyed a few headlines because they had been written earlier in the game," said the Austrian with a smile.

"But the team gave the answer. We had a tough week because of some circumstances. But we showed a good reaction, and nothing else was expected from this fantastic group."

By the hour mark, Rodrigo had given Leeds a two-goal lead and hope seemed absent from St Mary’s - that was before Joe Aribo and Kyle Walker-Peters both found the net in less than 10 minutes as the South Coast side walked off the pitch having repaired the damage.

"You have to go all in at such a moment," added Hasenhuttl about his formation change from a 3-5-2 to a 4-2-2-2 while trailing. "And the team, although we had very, very tough temperatures today, they were flying in the end and trying everything to win this game.

"We had a big chance with Sekou’s second shot today, it was a good save from the goalkeeper. Otherwise, we win this game maybe.

"But it was a good comeback from our side. And the team, I think, gave the answer today."

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