Pep Guardiola described the decision to replace Erling Haaland at half time of Manchester City\u2019s win over Fulham as a matter of sensible management after the striker reported issues during the game. \u201c[He had] some problems, he feels uncomfortable,\u201d the manager said. “It was 3\u20130, of course ,” he added.<\/p>\n
Guardiola was cautious on specifics. “I didn\u2019t speak with the doctors, I don\u2019t know exactly what he has. Just fatigue or something. He said, \u2018I don\u2019t feel comfortable\u2019 and with 3\u20130, with a lot of games, having Omar [Marmoush], [it was] common sense [to take him off].”<\/p>\n
The substitution sits against a heavy workload for Haaland this season. He has played in 37 of City\u2019s 40 games across all competitions, starting 34 of them and logging 2,920 minutes from a possible 3,600. That total makes him the squad\u2019s most used player. The next minutes totals in the group are Nico O\u2019Reilly on 2,785, Gianluigi Donnarumma on 2,700, Matheus Nunes on 2,550 and Phil Foden on 2,528.<\/p>\n
Haaland\u2019s goal against Fulham was his first open-play Premier League goal of 2026 and his fourth of the calendar year when penalties and other competitions are included. His seasonal tally stands at 29, with Phil Foden next on 10 and Rayan Cherki on nine. The article\u2019s figures cite Haaland contributing roughly 32% of City\u2019s output, a high share though not as concentrated as the reliance attributed to Real Madrid and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, cited at close to 50%.<\/p>\n
Critics have questioned Guardiola\u2019s choice to field Haaland in the FA Cup tie at Exeter City, which finished 10\u20131. The manager\u2019s comments and the minutes accumulated suggest the issue is not likely to require enforced absence but does indicate a need for recuperation.<\/p>\n
Guardiola will have an opportunity to rest his striker. City\u2019s next FA Cup tie pairs them with Salford City of League Two, a fixture the article describes as one that would not require Haaland\u2019s involvement and where Omar [Marmoush] is viewed as an able deputy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Guardiola: ‘common sense’ to withdraw Haaland at half-time after he reported ‘some problems’. today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,238],"tags":[1162,1305,1304],"class_list":["post-6831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analytics-stats","category-manchester-city","tag-analytics","tag-bench-selection","tag-benching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}