Pep Guardiola has now hit back at Thierry Henry's recent criticism of Manchester City star Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian striker has come in for some criticism of late, being labelled as one of the reasons for the Citizens dropping points in recent matches.
While Haaland looks to be en route to securing the English top flight's Golden Boot, he has found the back of the net just once in his club's past five matches across all competitions.
Despite netting 26 goals in the league already this season, many believe City – who are currently second on the EPL log, two points behind leaders Arsenal – would be doing even better if they did not operate with a natural No. 9.
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Last week, Gunners legend Henry insisted that the Norwegian needs to be "less predictable" to be of more help to the team.
"We've seen in big games they can't find him [Haaland]," the French striker said during a CBS Sports broadcast, per the Daily Express.
"If you think the other way, in big games, try to help them. We all know, when you play a big team... you have to win your own battle first.
"It's not that easy, and we've seen that this year he's struggled in this type of games. Maybe, if he does think of that, how can I help them [his teammates], sometimes in some situations, not always them finding me on the second post."
Guardiola, however, has now hit back at Henry's suggestion that Haaland needs to change the way he plays.
"I would say I understand what Titi [Henry] wants to say but being predictable doesn't depend on Haaland, it's about the process [in getting the ball to Haaland]," the Spanish manager said ahead of the first leg of City's UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie against RB Leipzig on Wednesday night.
"Then people say we concede on the goal left side because Bernardo [Silva] is there but people don't see we did what we did against Nottingham Forest because Bernardo is there to help us.
"To be less predictable, we need more runners when we arrive in the final third, but to arrive in the final third we need the process.
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"I am not stupid to say Bernardo is a left-back but he can do it, one-on-one he is a good defender.
"We have done it in the past with [Oleksandr] Zinchenko, [Fabian] Delph. Come on, we have scored the most goals in the Premier League.
"We can do good things and with Erling as well."
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