‘Pep and the niggles gameplan’ – Man City fans react as Guardiola delivers Haaland verdict after debut

Erling Haaland still needs more time to fully bed in at Manchester City despite scoring on his debut, says Pep Guardiola.

The club’s big summer signing netted only 12 minutes into his first appearance in a City shirt to fire the Premier League champions to a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in Green Bay.

Guardiola praised the 22-year-old’s poacher instinct after connecting to a Jack Grealish cross flashed across the face of goal but said the Norwegian needed to be handled carefully to aid his return to full fitness.

“He scored a goal, which is important. These type of goals in front of keeper – always he’s there,” Guardiola said. “The first minutes, he needs more rhythm and time but already he had 45 minutes which is good for him.

“We’ll see how he reacts to the niggles that he had in the previous weeks. After we come back we have long weeks to prepare every weekend game. In those two or three weeks we will get the best form.”

These Guardiola’s comments were shared on Twitter by City Xtra and it attracted plenty of attention from the club’s supporters.

“Pep and the niggles gameplan.”
Credit: @ObasekiEjirogh1

“This man and niggles 🤦.”
Credit: @mohammedrafiu2

“Who else loves niggles‽”
Credit: @espada__21

“Hate Niggles.”
Credit: @Sashank__

Niggles man is here and he is fresh pic.twitter.com/FmQNlHemKx

— JG¹⁰ (@MCFC_Grealish) July 24, 2022