Erling Haaland: Manchester City striker plays in “the toughest position on the planet”

Discovering his team’s most effective formation means Guardiola has a bigger puzzle to solve on Tuesday as City aim to overturn a 3-0 deficit against Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 second leg.

City lined up in a 4-3-1-2 against West Ham, with Haaland partnering Omar Marmoush in attack and Antoine Semenyu in the No. 10 position.

That didn’t suit either player, least of all Haaland, who was crowded out, and City switched to a 4-3-3 formation in the second half.

Despite their tactical problems, Guardiola says they will give everything against Madrid at the Etihad Stadium – and says all City’s players are ready too.

“If they don’t believe it, that’s a problem,” he said of their European mission. “If you are not a believer when you are in the Champions League, go home. What do we have to lose?

“It was a difficult result [in the first leg]. We won’t sit and see what happens, we will try to push out of respect for the fans. We have a team that scores two, three, four goals.

He added: “But if not, we still have the Premier League and the FA Cup, and next season we know what we have to do, and next season we will be back.”