Manchester City striker Erling Haaland admitted his form was not good enough after his side's 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday.
Defeat at Villa Park ensured Villa fell to a sixth defeat in eight Premier League games, dropping Pep Guardiola's side to sixth in the league, nine points behind title rivals Liverpool, who also have two games in hand. The Premier League champions have now suffered their ninth defeat in 12 games in all competitions.
Although City have seen their points run dry, Haaland has failed to score in each of their last three games. The Norwegian striker has found the back of the net once in his last six games in all competitions.
The two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner's struggles in front of goal were further highlighted as he only managed one touch in the opposition area against Villa.
I'm talking to TNT Sports after the game, Haaland gave an honest assessment of his performance and admitted that it was difficult to find confidence.
“I look at myself first, I didn't do things well enough,” he said.
“I didn't give my chances so I have to do better. A lot of it is on me and I wasn't good enough. Of course (confidence) is not the best. We know how important confidence is and you see it affects every man, that's right, we have to continue and stay positive even though it's hard.”
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola after full time at Villa Park
Haaland's boss, Pep Guardiola, is suffering his worst season as a manager, however, City's No.9 remains confident of turning things around.
“He will find solutions,” Haaland said.
“He won the Premier League six times in seven years, so we will never forget that. We still believe in him, now we have to work harder than ever.”
Guardiola was asked about Haaland's comments during his post-match press conference, but disagreed with his forward's comments.
“Without him we would be even worse,” Guardiola said.
“I don't agree with him, but I like the players to feel this way that this is the only chance to be better. There are two options (to be self-critical), the other is to blame those next to us. It depends on them.
“We tried, but in the end, he needs to be given the right balls in the right positions.”