Former Netherlands and Chelsea forward Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink believes Manchester City have regressed this season, and he lays some of the blame at the feet of Erling Haaland.
City are the lone Premier League side without a loss so far in the campaign, and they are once again at the top of the table as they pursue a fifth straight league title. In addition, Haaland leads the Premier League Golden Boot race by three goals after nine matches and appears well on his way to a third successive honour as the league's top marksman.
With that in mind, it seems an odd time for Hasselbaink to criticise the club and their star forward, but the retired striker insists that City aren't as dominant as in past seasons. Recent results may concur with Hasselbaink's assertion as all of City's league games since August have been decided by a goal or less.
As such, he believes there may be an opening for another side to usurp City throne.
"I think if Arsenal or Liverpool want to win the Premier League title, this is the year to do it," Hasselbaink told Lucky Block. "I’m looking at this Manchester City team and I don’t think they’re as good as some of the City teams we’ve seen in previous seasons.
"I was actually quite shocked when they played Fulham at home [in early October], Fulham played a really, really good game and had the ball for long periods of time. If you remember when Man City was on top and destroying teams, when they lost the ball, they used to get it back really quickly and you couldn't keep the ball against them. Their press used to be so good.
"I don't know if teams have become better, or they have become worse. I think it's the latter, because they've got Haaland, and Haaland doesn't press as much – even though they are top of the league and on this long unbeaten run, I don’t think they’re as good as they used to be."