Pep hails Haaland's mental strength in wake of Brentford brace | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola praised the mental strength of Erling Haaland alongside his predatory prowess after the striker’s Etihad brace secured a precious 2-1 Premier League win for City over Brentford.

Haaland's latest goals – which took his Premier League tally for the season to nine and City career total to 99 – came at the end of an emotional week following the bereavement of very close family friend Ivar Eggja at the age of just 59.

Despite all that he and his family have had to go through, the Norwegian again demonstrated his unique quality, scoring twice in the first half to help City recover from falling behind on just 22 seconds and make it four wins out of four in the league.

Haaland also struck the post in the second half and had an effort cleared off the line as he came within a whisker of a third successive top-flight hat-trick.

And for the City boss, whose side are now the only team in the top-flight with a perfect 100 percent record, it was a demonstration of Haaland’s strength of character alongside his supreme striking ability.

“[He told me he wanted to play] yesterday. That’s his strength. For 90 minutes you forget your personal life,” Guardiola pointed out.

“It has been tough for his family, for anyone to pass away at that age is difficult for every human being.

“He has been down in the locker room, but we try to take care of everyone and be close to them.

“Yesterday he was much better in his mood and the best way sometimes is to do your job. He, for many years, has done it perfectly.

“That’s his strength. For 90 minutes you forget your personal life and the punch in your face life gives to you.

“If he’s not ready to play he will come to me and say he is not ready to play. He has so much quality and he is a weapon that we have to use it.

“When teams are one against one, Ederson has the long passes. For 93 minutes he forgets and just plays.”

Guardiola also described Haaland’s lightning start to the new season as his best consistent run of form since joining City two years ago – but said it was still too early in the campaign to read too much significance into his blistering opening.

And he said the manner of how hard City had to fight for this latest victory only further illustrated the intense demands thrown up  by the Premier League, week in, week out.

“He’s really good. It’s the best [run of form], yeah, but it’s just four fixtures,” Pep pointed out.

“Always I see the table after 10/12 fixtures. I don’t pay any attention, it’s better to have 12 points for sure but anything is going to happen.

“Players came in, like Gundogan didn’t make a pre-season, Kyle came in and John. We need everyone.

“It’s so productive for us to win it in that way. I warn the players to be careful but now they’ve felt it. Staff felt it, how we suffered today.

“That’s why it’s so difficult to win Premier Leagues.

“It’s very tight, opponents are really good, goalkeepers are really good and make good buildup.”