“Not good enough” – Erling Haaland dissects recent Manchester City struggles after Liverpool FA Cup hat-trick | OneFootball

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland has discussed his recent struggles with form after scoring a treble in Saturday’s 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final win over Liverpool.

The Blues booked their latest trip to Wembley – a record eighth consecutive time they have reached the FA Cup semi-final – after putting Arne Slot and co to the sword for the third time in all competitions this season.

Haaland scored a stunning hat-trick to put the icing on the cake for a Manchester City attack that was relentless in its pursuit of the Liverpool net, having tasted their first piece of silverware in two seasons two weeks ago by winning the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal.

Guardiola made just one change to his starting XI to face Liverpool on Saturday as Marc Guehi came in for Nathan Ake in the absence of injured duo Ruben Dias and John Stones – the former missing the Carabao Cup final with a hamstring injury and the latter suffering a calf issue on international duty with England last week.

Haaland on Man City form: It’s not been good enough

Reflected on his struggles and Manchester City’s inconsistencies in recent months, Haaland did not get ahead of himself and was on point as he admitted his side have not been up to the mark of late.

On his own form of late, the Norway international said: “I think it’s been a bit too much up and down, which is not good enough,” in a post-match interview with TNT Sports.

“Again, I cannot keep thinking about what I could’ve done differently or what didn’t happen or what happened, I have to think about the next game.

“And the reality is now for us is a long week now because we’re not in the UEFA Champions League, which is not good enough. But again, we won today (against Liverpool) and now we have to start focusing on Chelsea because it’s a massive game again.”

Man City’s recent struggles assessed

City went out of Europe at the hands of Real Madrid for the third season running last month as Alvaro Arbeloa’s men sealed a 5-1 aggregate win over the Blues over two legs of a Round of 16 tie.

Consecutive draws against Nottingham Forest and West Ham in March saw Manchester City lose crucial ground in the Premier League title race as Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the tree to nine points – albeit having played an extra game.

Guardiola’s side have a mountain to climb in the title race but having won back-to-back games against Arsenal and Liverpool – in the Carabao Cup final and FA Cup quarter-final respectively – without conceding, momentum is back in a dressing room that has witnessed major upheaval in the last 15 months.

Haaland will be desperate to build on his hat-trick against Liverpool and lead Manchester City to victory in upcoming Premier League outings against Chelsea and Arsenal, with every game between now and the end of the season a final for the Blues.