Erling Haaland has been under fire following the Manchester City-Arsenal goalless draw this past Sunday. It’s nothing new this season though. Previously too, following an injury-induced break, questions were raised over his form and quality.

But this time, the criticism level has been cranked up several notches. Roy Keane has particularly gone at him. The former Manchester United defender pulled no punches and said Haaland is “almost like a League Two player.” Because the levels of his general play is so poor.

Does Haaland deserve this kind of vehemence? Last season in what was his first with the Citizens, he scored 52 goals across competitions with the team winning the Premier League, the Champions League and the FA Cup.

And this season, despite having missed quite a few matches, he has 29 goals to his name, out of which 18 have come in the Premier League. It’s the most by any player as of now. Clearly, he has played his part in City’s success ever since joining the team from Borussia Dortmund.

The fact of the matter, which experts often turn a blind eye to, is that second-placed Arsenal have been extremely formidable this season. They are a massive title contender this season and their defence among the three horses in the race – leaders Liverpool and third-placed City being the other two – is the best so far.

Numbers too back the argument. In 29 games so far, they have conceded 24 games while Liverpool and City are at 27 and 28 goals, respectively. William Saliba and Gabriel have been at the centre of the Gunners’ top-notch defending this season.

And then this was a high-octane encounter with both teams making sure not to lose the contest at least. An outright result would have dented the hopes of the team on the losing side in a big way. At present, just three points separate the top three.

It’s true the 23-year-old Norwegian had not had a great game. But then what else can you expect from forwards in a game where the defenders are hell-bent on not conceding?

It was unfair criticism by all means. Keane probably didn’t mean it or just said it to rattle the forward and City. For the largest part of his career, he played for United. Those days United were one of the biggest clubs in the world in terms of performance too, while City were just around mostly to make up the numbers.

Things have changed tremendously since the City takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008 and the retirement of Alex Ferguson in 2013. City are now the number one club in England looking to win their fourth successive title, while United have not won any important trophies since 2013. Previously, the city of Manchester was identifiable with the Red Devils. Now it’s the other way around. Frustration and jealousy could very well be attributed to what Keane said.

Frankly speaking, Haaland’s role at City is that of a finisher. Whatever we have seen so far, there is no indication that Pep Guardiola expects him to be creative. There are other players in the team for that purpose. On Sunday, they, the trio of Kevin de Bruyne, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva, failed and as a result, so did Haaland.

Thankfully, a lot of people don’t agree with Keane. Chris Sutton, who played for a host of English clubs back in the day, made no bones about it, calling the comment "total nonsense and unfair on Erling Haaland." Guardiola himself has come out in defence of his player. “He [Haaland] is the best striker in the world.” The Spaniard rather blamed the limited presence in the final third.

Keane may have made those remarks in the heat of the moment. Who knows? But it’s clear he doesn’t have many buyers. Haaland and his fans don’t have to lose their sleep over it.

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