Erling Haaland has taken full responsibility for Manchester City‘s recent poor form, urging fans to lay the blame on him. The Norwegian striker had another disappointing day as City suffered their ninth defeat in their last 12 matches across all competitions.

Haaland declared: “I haven’t been good enough and I haven’t delivered for City this season. I need to step up and work harder. I just need to get better. It just isn’t good enough. I will do everything I can to do better.

“In the defining moments I’m failing to score – in the defining moments, we’re conceding goals. The margins are small and that’s how it is. I will do everything I can to turn this around.”

Haaland confessed that their dire run of form, which has seen City win only one of their last 12, is taking its toll on the team.

He admitted: “We know how important confidence is and you can see that it affects every human being. The confidence levels are not the best.

“But we have to continue, we have to believe and we have to keep working hard.”

But Haaland expects Pep Guardiola to figure it out: “He won the Premier League six times in seven years, so we will never forget that.

“He will find the solutions. He has been doing that every single year. We still believe in him.

Guardiola said himself in the wake of the Villa Park defeat: “We have to think positive and I have incredible trust in the guys. Some of them have incredible pride and desire to do it. We have to find a way, step by step, sooner or later to find a way back.

“The solution is to bring the players back. We have just one central defender fit, that is difficult. 

“And there are a lot more reasons. We concede the goals we don’t concede in the past, we [don’t] score the goals we score in the past. Football is not just one reason. There are a lot of little factors.”