The boss, at his Friday press conference, was asked whether he would consider playing a false nine to freshen the attack up and give Haaland a rest.
The Norwegian has scored 18 goals in 23 games this season and 108 in 121 matches during his time at City.
And the Blues’ boss says he would always prefer to play his No.9 if he is available when responding to whether Phil Foden or (when fit), Oscar Bobb could do a job up front.
“Erling is irreplaceable,” said Guardiola.
“Of course we need all the best version of them, no just one specific player.
“I would be so selfish in that position; I said many times if it was just playing one specific player the decision would be easy. It’s not about that.
“Many of the goals we concede, we give them away it’s not about one specific situation, the situation is more difficult, and you have to work on that step by step. The moment some results come back we will be better.
“I prefer to play with Erling… I didn’t think in the situation not to play Erling, absolutely not.
“I always played false nine for the quality specific to the players I had in that moment.
“I love to play man to man but with Erling I can’t do that.
“Erling is doing well. The reason why maybe he’s not productive [as normal] is that we don’t produce the amount of chances that we are able to do in the past.
“He’s surrounded by three four centre backs so it’s not easy for him we have to create more chances and create more spaces for him.”
