Alan Shearer has come out swinging in defence of Erling Haaland's huffy response to being subbed off during Manchester City's 5-1 thrashing of Wolves.

After bagging a whopping four goals, Haaland was none too pleased to be yanked off the pitch in the 82nd minute. He even appeared to have a bit of a barney with boss Pep Guardiola before stomping over to the bench, where he didn't exactly hide his annoyance, per the Manchester Evening News.

With a score like that under his belt, one has to wonder why the City striker was so narked after such a blinder of a game, but Shearer gets it. Chatting on The Rest Is Football Podcast, the footy legend said: "I loved it. Why shouldn't he be fuming?

"I would be fuming, absolutely raging. You're on four goals and you've got 10 or 15 minutes left? I would be exactly the same as him. He is on a high, flying, has had criticism, has four and is back in the groove. I loved it. I have no issue or problem with that at all. I get how he feels."

One can perhaps understand Haaland's frustration at being denied the chance to add further to his tally as the Premier League's leading scorer on 25 goals. However, Guardiola has bigger fish to fry as he looks to keep his talisman fit for the rest of their league run-in, not to mention an FA Cup final against Manchester United.

Addressing whether Mohamed Salah's recent touchline squabble with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp at West Ham was similar, Shearer opined: "I think so, yeah. There is a bit of a difference.

"He [Salah] is not on the pitch and hasn't been playing well, although has plenty of goals by anyone else's standards. There is a slight difference."

Despite Shearer not having an issue with Haaland's behaviour, former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane had a different view. Following his previous description of City's No9 as a "League Two player", Keane has further criticised Haaland in recent weeks.

He said this past weekend: "We saw Erling Haaland yesterday being brought off, not too happy, behaving like a spoilt brat. But because Man City win the game and he scores goals, it's almost forgotten about."