Haaland silenced Man City critics with winner – Guardiola

MANCHESTER, England — Pep Guardiola said Erling Haaland silenced his critics by scoring the only goal in Manchester City's 1-0 win over Brentford.

Haaland made nine attempts without scoring in a 1-1 draw against Chelsea on Saturday and missed a golden opportunity with a second-half header. But against Brentford on Tuesday, the Norwegian striker, whose grandmother died last week, scored his 22nd goal of the season to give City a narrow victory and narrow the gap to Liverpool at the top of the Premier League at a point.

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“Top scorers, top strikers, score a lot of goals, don't criticize, he will shut your mouth,” Guardiola said. “Sooner or later he's here. He was out for two months, he lost his grandmother, it's not easy for a human being. In this type of game like Brentford you need Erling .”

City had 31 shots against Chelsea and another 25 against Brentford for a total of two goals. It looked to be a frustrating evening against Thomas Frank's side before defender Kristoffer Ajer slipped midway through the second half to allow Haaland to rush onto Julián Álvarez's pass and score the winner.

“I thought we were brilliant throughout the game,” Frank said. “I am very proud and satisfied with the performance of the players. They believed in it and that gives me a lot of confidence in them for the future.

“If he doesn't slide, I'm convinced it wouldn't be a goal. Haaland is fast but Kristoffer is just as fast. City are good so they don't need margins.”

Meanwhile, Guardiola later revealed that Kevin De Bruyne was left on the bench against Brentford after reporting hamstring discomfort. The midfielder has been out for five months after undergoing hamstring surgery and although he was named on the bench on Tuesday, the 32-year-old did not warm up before or during the match.

“Today we couldn't use Kevin because he had hamstring problems and I didn't want to take any risks,” Guardiola said. “He's fine. Just a precaution because he didn't feel comfortable and after five months off, we didn't take any risks.”

Brentford manager Thomas Frank lamented the misstep that led to Haaland's goal.

“It was an unfortunate situation, if Kristoffer doesn't slip I'm convinced it will never be a goal,” Frank said. “Haaland is fast, but Kristoffer is just as fast and it would never have been a goal. City are good enough with their quality, they don't need margins.

“I think we needed it more than they did.”