Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland joked after the Manchester City striker scored only once in City's 4-0 thrashing of Southampton on Saturday.
Haaland has had a remarkable start to his career at the Etihad, scoring 20 times in just 12 games.
He has 15 in nine Premier League matches and five in three Champions League games, while he had also scored three consecutive home top flight hat-tricks before Saturday's game.
Following his stunning start, a petition calling for Haaland to be kicked out of football was launched.
The caption at the top of the change.org page reads: 'Petition to get Erling Haaland banned from Association Football because it's just not fair.'
Supporters who want to sign the petition can do so on change.org, and already over 300 fans have done just that.
Joao Cancelo, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez had netted the first three goals against the Saints before Haaland added a fourth midway through the second half.
And after the game, Guardiola joked that he was angry with his star striker for only scoring one, referencing the petition.
He said: 'I am so upset with him. He didn't score three goals so that's why the petition to sack him from the Premier League isn't going to happen.'
Guardiola subsequently added: 'Expectations of him are so high that people expect he is going to score three or four goals every game, but in the end he was there and scored. He has done it and helped us again. He played really good.'
Haaland saw a post on Twitter which ran Guardiola's quotes and replied with a funny gif in response to his manager's comments.
The 4-0 hammering saw City move into first place in the Premier League following an unbeaten start to the season.
They face FC Copenhagen on Tuesday in the Champions League before travelling to Anfield to play Liverpool next Sunday.