New signing Erling Haaland struggled in their 3-1 Community Shield defeat to Liverpool.
The £51million arrival from Borussia Dortmund managed just 16 touches in 90 minutes and missed an open goal from six yards late on.
Haaland seemed frustrated coming up against a solid Liverpool defence marshalled by Virgil van Dijk.
With this performance in mind, Man City legend Sergio Aguero said of Haaland: “He was too used to Germany, Haaland thought he was alone, then Van Dijk arrived and said ‘welcome to the Premier League’.”
But one person who stood up for Haaland was Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher.
He was also a bit critical of City’s decision to sell Raheem Sterling to rivals Chelsea in a £50million move earlier this summer.
The star striker believes it was a “strange” decision by the club.
City legend Aguero said on his Twitch channel: “I don’t understand the sale of Sterling, there are times they (City) make strange decisions.”
He should know about the premier league. No other player has hat tricks than him in Premier League history.
“He had chances, two or three in the first half, and one in the end, and always is there,” was City manager Pep Guardiola’s assessment of Haaland’s performance.
Of the Norway international’s glaring late miss, he added: “He is strong, another time he will put it in the net. It happened. It is football. He was there.
“He had another goal disallowed because the ball was over the line.
“He fought a lot and made the movements. It is good for him to see the reality of a new country and new league.
“He was there but today he didn’t score and another day he will score. He has an incredible quality and he will do it.
“He has had just two weeks, two weeks and a half, and I am really comfortable with what we are seeing since we arrived this season.
“I am not absolutely concerned. The reality is we have two or three months ahead of us. He is going to help us.”
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