Pep Guardiola wants Erling Haaland to improve his involvements in Manchester City's build-up play, telling the new striker that he doesn't want him to simply be waiting in the box to score.
Haaland scored on his first outing for City in pre-season, had chances to score in the Community Shield vs Liverpool, and recorded two goals on his Premier League debut at West Ham. His initial impact has impressed Guardiola, but the manager says he expects Haaland to improve and get more involved in City's link-ups.
Reflecting on Haaland's performance vs West Ham, Guardiola said: "He has qualities to score goals but in the process I don't like the striker to be waiting for the ball. I want him to be involved.
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"I think he likes to touch the ball. Not just Erling, all of them, they all have to run and have the freedom to respect positions. If he wants to drop he can do it. Good linking, extra passes. Close to the box I don't want him dropping, I want him scoring like Julian [Alvarez]. All players like to be in touch with the ball."
After scoring vs Bayern Munich on City's US pre-season tour, Haaland described Guardiola's training as 'crazy' - a comment that was put to the manager on Friday.
In response, Guardiola said he aims to make all of his players better on the training pitch, but in particular the talented players like Haaland, Alvarez, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer.
He said: "Erling like Julian or Foden or Cole Palmer have a lot of margin to improve. I wouldn't like to make them done. He can be a better player, he can have the will to do it. He likes football.
"I never see a player with 21, 22 years, maybe Messi he was already advanced, the rest is never finished and always you can improve. We will try this season, next season, or when he leaves for him to be a better player than when he arrived. Like Phil, an exceptional player but margin to be better. Incredible instinct he has but has to be ready for the situations better. We're here as staff and coaches to help them.
"What impresses me most is he has a good education, he's humble, how much he talks with young players, not just important players, always talks. Settles good like Julian and the other guys."
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