Ruben Dias issues strong word of warning to Manchester City squad over Erling Haaland heroics | OneFootball

Manchester City defender Ruben Dias has sent a wakeup call to his teammates that they cannot keep depending on Erling Haaland to score week-in, week-out.

City climbed to second place in the Premier League on Saturday after a 2-0 triumph over Everton, with Haaland scoring his 13th and 14th goals for the Blues in all competitions this season to secure all three points from a hard-fought contest.

Everton frustrated the hosts and kept Manchester City at bay for the first-half as Pep Guardiola’s men lacked a cutting edge in attack and were thwarted in their attempts to slice open a resolute Toffees backline commanded by James Tarkowski.

However, the Merseysiders’ resistance was broken when Haaland rose highest and headed in the opener from a Nico O’Reilly cross after 58 minutes with his first touch of the ball in the second-half – again underscoring the form the Norway international has been in this term.

It was two after 63 minutes as Haaland’s fierce strike from Savinho’s cutback went past Jordan Pickford and secured the points for an elated Manchester City side, who have revelled in the form that Haaland has shown since August to spearhead their resurgence to title contenders.

Haaland cut a frustrated figure as he left the pitch at full-time, having missed a series of clear goalscoring chances and failing to bag a hat-trick, underpinning the standards that the Leeds-born striker sets for himself and how Manchester City are reaping the rewards of their talisman’s hitman mentality.

However, Manchester City defender Ruben Dias has sent a word of warning to the rest of the squad that they cannot keep pinning all their hopes on Haaland to win them games every week – despite the evidence on the contrary on offer this season.

“He’s a very, very important player, but more and more we want everyone involved, everyone scoring, not just Erling (Haaland),” Dias said after playing the full 90 minutes in the win on Saturday.

“Obviously, it’s important for us he (Haaland) is on his rhythm, a big difference when he is, but we want everyone to step up and be ready.”

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Dias added: “In the first-half, we had one very clear (chance) from Savinho he tries to cross, one from Phil (Foden) that he tries and goes to Tijjani (Reijnders), one from Jeremy (Doku) that Tijjani assists – we had chances.

“Obviously, (we are) always happy whoever scores and we’re always happy when Erling (Haaland) scores!”

Dias was partnered by Nathan Ake in central defence against the Toffees, with the latter making his first Premier League start since February and despite some hiccups in possession, the Dutchman did well on his call-up to the starting XI – with Josko Gvardiol handed a timely rest amid concerns over his workload.