Guardiola's wrong bet has severely harmed Manchester City; Haaland in 2026 is worse than Ronaldo, with 7 matches and only 1 penalty goal, appearing absent and scoring low ratings every game.

Guardiola led Manchester City to an unprecedented four consecutive Premier League championships, yet with his personal family troubles, reckless player transfers, and blind faith in Haaland, many factors have turned City into a symbol of shocking upsets. Last season, City ended empty-handed, were knocked out of the Club World Cup by an Asian team last summer, and suffered their worst defeat in a Manchester derby under Guardiola recently. If not for multiple goalpost saves and Donnarumma’s heroic stops, it would have been a disaster for City in that derby. And it doesn’t stop there — in the 7th round of this week’s Champions League, City surprisingly lost to the bottom-ranked Bodo/Glimt, marking two consecutive defeats across competitions and handing Bodo/Glimt their first Champions League win this season!

Whenever Manchester City struggles or falls behind, Guardiola immediately forgets to make substitutions; the match against Bodo/Glimt, where he made just one change, is a classic example. In the past two years, Guardiola seems lost tactically; without a player like De Bruyne to handle tough battles, possession football is just fake passing—mostly sideways or backward. Since Rodri’s serious injury, he has become mediocre and even a liability at times. Haaland lacks aerial dominance, can’t hold off defenders with his back to goal, and doesn’t have the ability to carry the ball forward or shoot from distance. Selling Palmer and Alvarez was a failed decision that weakened the team’s attacking power, while the expensive Bundesliga star Marmoush has been forgotten on the bench by Guardiola.

Why is Haaland in 2026 considered inferior to Ronaldo? Although Ronaldo’s current team, Al Nassr, isn’t performing well this year, he still scores frequently. Meanwhile, Haaland’s Manchester City not only struggles in results, but the Norwegian striker has appeared absent and scoreless in all 7 matches of 2026, with only one game rating above 7.0 and the other six barely above 6. In these 7 games, he scored only one penalty created by De Bruyne. In fact, by the end of last year, Haaland had gone 8 consecutive matches without scoring from open play, including the 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest. Valued at 200 million euros as the world’s top striker, Haaland often disappears and fails to score despite starting regularly, showing he is seriously overrated. Guardiola’s blind trust in Haaland was a wrong gamble that hurt City badly. Selling creative and ball-progressing attackers like Alvarez and Palmer was Guardiola’s biggest squad management mistake. Do you agree?