Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has voiced concerns about his team's over-reliance on Erling Haaland, despite the striker's prolific goal-scoring record. Guardiola is urging his other attacking players to "step up" and contribute more to the team's goal tally.

Haaland's importance to Manchester City is undeniable. Most recently, his two goals against Everton propelled City to the top of the Premier League table. The Norwegian striker has already scored 11 league goals this season, a significant portion of City's total. In 13 games across all competitions, Haaland has netted 15 goals. However, Guardiola is aware that depending too heavily on one player is not a sustainable path to long-term success.

The statistics highlight Guardiola's concern. Excluding Haaland's contributions, the rest of the City squad has only managed to score four goals in eight league matches. This disparity indicates a clear imbalance in the team's attacking output and a dependence on Haaland to find the net. Guardiola has called upon his wingers and attacking midfielders to increase their scoring rate, emphasizing the need for them to convert the clear chances the team creates. He specifically mentioned players like Savio, Jeremy Doku, and Tijjani Reijnders, pointing out missed opportunities in recent games.

Guardiola acknowledged Haaland's exceptional talent, but stressed that City cannot solely rely on him to achieve their goals. "He's our key man," Guardiola stated after the 2-0 victory against Everton. "At the same time, we cannot do good things with just Erling". He believes that a strong team requires contributions from multiple players, making them less predictable and more challenging for opponents to defend against. Guardiola stated that the team needs to be strong and for that to happen, the other players need to step up.

Guardiola has assured that he is ready to find solutions if and when Haaland's goal-scoring form dips. "What I say is when he (Haaland) is going to drop, because it's impossible to sustain that, I will be there, we will be there,” Guardiola said. He also said that he and the team have a passion to help the team and sustain the team in bad moments.

Manchester City's next game is against Everton, following Haaland's hat-trick for Norway against Israel during the international break.