'Losing is not cool' - Erling Haaland hits out at Man City team-mates and brands them 'not good enough' as striker delivers fiery warning ahead of Manchester derby

Reported by The Guardian, Haaland spoke to Viaplay ahead of the crunch derby on Sunday. The 25-year-old expressed his frustration at the Cityzens' difficult start to the season and claimed that they must improve and be on their best form to "get things going" and kick-start their season once again. Following opening-day victory at Wolves, City have since lost against both Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton and sit in 13th in the league table.

It has been an unfamiliarly challenging start for the 2023 Treble winners, who are used to challenging for titles under Guardiola. While a mid-season blip can occur and is often quickly recovered from, for City to sit in the bottom half of the table at this stage of the season is largely uncharted territory. Haaland's words reflect the fact that City will hope improvement is forthcoming as new signings continue to bed in.

Haaland said: “We’ve lost two games in a row, it’s not good enough, it’s way too bad. We need to figure it out, get back to winning ways. We can’t afford to lose games as there’s so many good teams. It’s perfect to turn things around against United. We need to all be on our best, get our asses going, get things going, because it’s not been good enough so far.

“Losing’s not cool. It’s annoying you need to use it for something positive. As motivation to do better the next game, and I expect that we are. We need to use the angriness inside us out on the pitch to deliver at our highest level.”

City host their local neighbours Manchester United on Sunday at 16:30 and it will be an intriguing encounter, after a mixed start by both clubs. Ruben Amorim's Red Devils are under immense pressure themselves and the key difference-maker could be which side deals better with the adversity in a crunch match.