'It should have been more' - Haaland laments missed chance of a hat-trick
Erling Haaland felt he should have scored a hat-trick on his Premier League debut but was delighted to have come out on top for Manchester City.
Haaland's two goals for City led them to a routine 2-0 win over West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday.
The pre-season signing from Borussia Dortmund took just 36 minutes to open his account, converting a penalty after being knocked down by Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
He got his second 19 minutes in the second half as he ran on a ball through Kevin De Bruyne and passed Areola with ease.
West Ham offered little resistance but Haaland wasn't surprised his new side got up and running early, despite the disappointment of losing the Community Shield to Liverpool last week.
“As expected,” he told Sky Sports of the performance. "We already saw the potential against Bayern [Munich, a 1-0 friendly win], against Liverpool it was a bit down, but that will come with games.
"It should have been more today, but yeah, OK to start."
Haaland was convinced that he should have had more than his two purposes, as his explicit choice of language shows.
"I think if you had seen the [Ilkay Gundogan] opportunity before I left, I should have been there, but I screwed it up."
When asked to be "stable with the tongue" by the interviewer, Haaland replied, "S***, sorry."
Pep Guardiola said he was happy with his new striker's contribution, adding: "Erling scored both goals, it was important for him, for us, for everyone."
The pace Haaland displayed and the precision of his finishing for the second goal drew comparisons to Thierry Henry on social media, and this apparent resemblance was even mentioned in Guardiola's interview.
But after hearing the Norwegian come under fire following his performance against Liverpool last week, Guardiola was somewhat desperate in his response.
"Of course he has talent but look, a week ago when he missed the chances [against Liverpool] he was a 'failure'... now he's going to be Henry or [Cristiano ] Ronaldo?
"It takes time, it's the first Premier League game, he's 22, he's got a long career [ahead of him] and when he retires he hopes to spend many years here at Man City but we are [only then] going to analyze what he did. So be calm."
Erling Haaland felt he should have scored a hat-trick on his Premier League debut but was delighted to have come out on top for Manchester City.
Haaland's two goals for City led them to a routine 2-0 win over West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday.
The pre-season signing from Borussia Dortmund took just 36 minutes to open his account, converting a penalty after being knocked down by Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
He got his second 19 minutes in the second half as he ran on a ball through Kevin De Bruyne and passed Areola with ease.
West Ham offered little resistance but Haaland wasn't surprised his new side got up and running early, despite the disappointment of losing the Community Shield to Liverpool last week.
“As expected,” he told Sky Sports of the performance. "We already saw the potential against Bayern [Munich, a 1-0 friendly win], against Liverpool it was a bit down, but that will come with games.
"It should have been more today, but yeah, OK to start."
Haaland was convinced that he should have had more than his two purposes, as his explicit choice of language shows.
"I think if you had seen the [Ilkay Gundogan] opportunity before I left, I should have been there, but I screwed it up."
When asked to be "stable with the tongue" by the interviewer, Haaland replied, "S***, sorry."
Pep Guardiola said he was happy with his new striker's contribution, adding: "Erling scored both goals, it was important for him, for us, for everyone."
The pace Haaland displayed and the precision of his finishing for the second goal drew comparisons to Thierry Henry on social media, and this apparent resemblance was even mentioned in Guardiola's interview.
But after hearing the Norwegian come under fire following his performance against Liverpool last week, Guardiola was somewhat desperate in his response.
"Of course he has talent but look, a week ago when he missed the chances [against Liverpool] he was a 'failure'... now he's going to be Henry or [Cristiano ] Ronaldo?
"It takes time, it's the first Premier League game, he's 22, he's got a long career [ahead of him] and when he retires he hopes to spend many years here at Man City but we are [only then] going to analyze what he did. So be calm."
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