Southampton boss reveals plan to stop Man City star Erling Haaland

Southampton manager Ruben Selles has revealed that he is not relying on hope when attempting to stop Manchester City talisman Erling Haaland this weekend.

Haaland has been in sensational form during his debut season at the Etihad Stadium having scored a whopping 42 goals in all competitions already. The 22-year-old Norwegian was a noticeable absentee at the weekend as he continued his recovery from a groin injury which kept him out of international duty last month but, he did return to training in midweek.

In his absence, City were still at their clinical best as Liverpool were defeated 4-1. However, ahead of this weekend’s match against the Blues, the manager of the Premier League’s bottom club was asked if he is hoping that Haaland has a bad day in order to stop him.

Speaking to Hampshire Live, Selles responded: “Well we don’t work with hope, we work with facts and with situations that we can control. I don’t think one player can change the dynamic of one team.

“I think that one player can change it if the other ten are doing the job properly. So the fact that Manchester City now has Erling Haaland in front just makes their system a little bit better because the creation of the chances with Ruben Dias in the build-up, Ederson’s long distribution, Kevin De Bruyne in the half-spaces, [Ilkay] Gundogan, Bernardo [Silva], Rodri as central player, they make it possible.

“And it’s not about Erling Haaland, it is about a team that knows how to use their players in the best way possible. So that’s what we are focusing [on].

“If Erling is there, then we will play against him and if he is not there then they have a striker that just won the World Cup with Argentina. This is is a team that has great players so we respect every player, but we have our own way to do things.”

The player which Selles is referring to, Julian Alvarez, impressed against Liverpool last weekend and scored a vital equaliser to set the Blues on their way to victory.

Selles was later asked if the Saints had been preparing for City without Haaland. “Not that much,” he replied.

“I [don’t] think [of] them playing slightly differently without him just that he and Julian Alvarez have a little bit of a different approach, but they occupy more or less the same spaces even with their different characteristics. So we just focus on what they bring specifically for the system if one or the other one plays.”