Tactical trap of Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush doing more harm than good for Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Nearly three weeks ago when Manchester City brushed Wolves aside in the Premier League, Omar Marmoush scored his first goal of the Premier League campaign for Pep Guardiola’s side and every associate of the club looked thrilled – except one. 

Erling Haaland was sat on the bench, his head buried in his hands, wondering why he was watching from the dugout. But the image unfolding provided a cold, plain answer: Marmoush, running towards the corner flag with an ear-to-ear grin, was the spark City had been missing. 

That was even more evident in the Carabao Cup semi-final when Marmoush – having started over Haaland once again – scored twice at the Etihad Stadium to show Newcastle United the door in the competition, and in a game that ended 5-1 on aggregate. 

The Egyptian scored in the seventh minute following a quick run of play, and off the back of a return pass from Tijjani Reijnders, a piece of fortune meant the ball ricochetted off Dan Burn and looped over Aaron Ramsdale before he doubled his tally on the night after 29 minutes. 

This time, he capitalised on a poor clearance from Kieran Trippier, heading in from a yard out to help Pep Guardiola reach his 23rd domestic final as the manager of Manchester City – which will be played against Arsenal on March 22. 

Erling Haaland did get his chances against Wolves and Newcastle, coming on in the 73rd and 71st minutes respectively, but the threat was nullified and it begs the question: why does the team revert to a rigid, cross-heavy approach that lacks the soul of Pep Guardiola’s philosophy when the Norway international comes on? 

Evidently, each and every defender is pulled towards Haaland due to his threat with the ball at his feet – as he proved against Tottenham at the start of the month – but there must be ways around the double-team dark arts for the striker and City as a team.

As has been the case this season, the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United have learned to embrace the man-marking to keep City localised, widely effecting the space and fluidity that Haaland cannot thrive in. Marmoush, however, can take advantage of these situations. 

Erling Haaland’s scoring form in contrast to previous seasons had gone beyond a slump before his revival against Liverpool on Sunday, but it paints a stark picture of a team that has forgotten how to score any other way.

Of course, this dry patch seems to be in the process of clearance, but Pep Guardiola must come up with new ideas and Marmoush could be the answer. 

Erling Haaland is by far Manchester City’s most potent goal-scoring asset, and while before the Newcastle game he had scored 27 per cent of the Citizens’ goals in all competitions, the club’s goal-per-game ratio casts a more widespread issue. 

Manchester City’s current average for goals per game is second lowest since Guardiola took over in 2016 at 2.04, just ahead of last season’s 1.89 – the worst managerial campaign in the Catalan’s career from any of his clubs, including Bayern Munich and Barcelona. 

So what could be the fix to Manchester City’s goal-scoring problems? 

It’s important to note that the problem isn’t Erling Haaland, or any player on the pitch who represents City, but rather the headache and tactical trap that seizes Guardiola’s decision-making when it comes to getting the best out of the Norway international and Marmoush.

Haaland is on course to playing an unprecedented amount of football in a single campaign from an individual standpoint and has taken part in 3,535 minutes of action this season for both City and Norway combined. He could also play 26 more games given Guardiola’s side are still competing in four competitions.

Naturally, the idea to rest Erling Haaland is met with expectation and perhaps Pep Guardiola’s should grant Omar Marmoush a chance to shine, not least because he looks one of Manchester City’s brightest sparks when he’s involved.

Upon arrival, Marmoush was described by many as the perfect player for Guardiola. He is versatile, a transitional specialist and willing to defend from the front with a tireless press that is perhaps the strongest of City’s entire front line. 

He made a perfect start to life in Manchester, scoring a 14-minute hat-trick against Newcastle before further goals came against Brighton, Crystal Palace, Leicester and Bournemouth – where he scored last season’s goal of the season – but a knee injury sidelined him for just over a month around September time.

The signing of Rayan Cherki six months after the former Eintracht Frankfurt striker joined created competition between the pair and the Frenchman, being equipped to play anywhere along the attacking line with much more adaptability to Marmoush, was selected over him for a long period.

At present, Cherki boasts the highest amount of assists in the Premier League this season for City, while being fourth on their scoring list and generally proving to be an exhausting opponent to play against with his slick feet and incomparable ability to dribble in tight spaces. 

In addition, Marmoush’s endeavour for more minutes wasn’t helped by the instant impact that Antoine Semenyo has made after joining the club for £65 million last month. So far this season – for both City and Bournemouth – Semenyo has scored 14 goals and assisted four times in 28 games, and he has contributed five goals in six games for the Citizens in all competitions. 

This makes City’s attack, without yet mentioning the likes of Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Savinho, Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders, perhaps the most hoarded in Europe and subsequently the hardest to get into.

With his goals against Newcastle and Wolves, Omar Marmoush is certain to get more minutes under his belt in the foreseeable future but Erling Haaland’s dominance looks to be awakening. 

The Norway international teed Bernardo Silva up for an 84th-minute equaliser before tapping a penalty past Alisson for the all-important winner in stoppage time in another blockbuster affair at Anfield.