Pep Guardiola brushes off Erling Haaland's annoyance at being subbed when on a hat-trick

Erling Haaland’s one and only mistake yesterday was turning the airwaves blue, though his manager Pep Guardiola said he loved hearing Manchester City’s new No 9 curse his luck during his live television interview.

Discussing an Ilkay Gundogan cross he could have met for a Premier League debut hat-trick, Haaland said: 'I should have been there so a bit s*** but that's how it is.' Told to be steady with his language, the 22-year-old responded: 'Oh, sorry, s***, oh sorry!’

Guardiola later said it reminded him of Lionel Messi, saying a goalscorer is never satisfied when he could have scored more for his team.

‘I like it,’ Guardiola said. ‘I was fortunate as a manager to be with Messi and if he scored two, he wanted three. If he scored three, he wanted four.

'If he got four, he wanted five. The top goalscorers, the strikers, they are never satisfied. They are always starving.’

When Haaland was fouled for City’s penalty, he immediately grabbed the ball to take it himself. ‘I think if someone were to take this ball, he would have punched his team-mates in the face,’ Guardiola said. ‘I’m pretty sure of that and that is a good sign.’

Guardiola went on to poke fun at those who criticised Haaland after his Community Shield performance against Liverpool last week.

‘One week ago he would not adapt to the Premier League and now he's the best – alongside Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo,’ he said.

‘He is a guy with incredible talent – a scorer of goals. No 9 is numbers but we would like to add something more to his game to be a better player. Not just a guy who scores goals.’

Meanwhile, West Ham manager David Moyes bemoaned his lack of defensive options and said: 'We found it very hard. Tactically, they were much better.’