Sandwiched between two stunning 5-0 away wins for Manchester City this season there has been a great deal of hand-wringing and airing of difficult questions at the Etihad.
City's competitive season began early this year; while their rivals were digesting results from the opening day of the season, City were travelling to Romania in mid-August to face Steaua Bucharest in the playoff round of the Champions League. It was an early wake-up call for Pep Guardiola's team at a time of the season when clubs are usually emerging gently from their summer slumbers.
The stunning 5-0 win set an early standard for what has come thereafter and was only, finally, matched last weekend in an equally sumptuous FA Cup third round display at West Ham. Another 5-0 win, this time in the first fixture of 2017, has resurrected thoughts that this Guardiola-inspired passing machine, having taken its time to reach its cruising height, is now finding its way after a lot of obstacles were put in front of it.
City's most recent performance, inspired by the old hands of David Silva, Pablo Zabaleta, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero, comes as the fifth win in a run of six games. In fact, going back to an Oct. 19 defeat at the Nou Camp in the Champions League, City have lost three league games (a close one at Liverpool, an unlucky one vs. Chelsea and a complete flop at Leicester's King Power Stadium) and given way to Manchester United in a League Cup tie, where they played a glut of youth-teamers against a full strength United side.
Maybe things aren't quite as horrendous as some people have been suggesting.
Even in the 4-0 defeat at Barcelona, City gave a good account of themselves, playing better than they had in the various previous engagements with the Catalan giants. In upending Luis Enrique's men 3-1 in the return at the Etihad, another milestone was passed. City were beginning to mix it properly with the continental megaliths. That night, City took the game to the Catalans and could, in a second half of considerable verve and power, have increased the margin of victory past the two-goal difference for which they eventually settled.
Only in losing at Tottenham and Leicester, as well as a flaccid and directionless first half at Anfield, where all three opponents sat high and ran incessantly, have City really been found out. There have been plenty of scares and scrapes along the way, to be sure, but no other clear failures of the system.
For Guardiola, keeping in touch with a runaway Chelsea side now having to regroup after finally losing a league game has been vital. The world will now see how the Premier League's surprise leaders deal with their impressive run of consecutive wins coming to an end.
The Londoners put together a rousing run of 13 consecutive victories up to their comprehensive defeat at White Hart Lane. But the seven-point gap to City in fourth place suddenly doesn't look quite so insurmountable. If it weren't for the three consecutive 1-1 home draws against Everton, Southampton and Middlesbrough, all of which involved massive superiority for the home side, the gap would hardly be a gap at all.
City's own efforts in maintaining close enough contact to be ready for proper action as their own form experiences an upgrade is also laudable. With reinforcements likely in the coming month, can we expect City to provide a more consistent challenge between now and the end of the season? Certainly with Gabriel Jesus ready to join the forward line and others rumoured to be on their way to bolster a beleaguered defence, City should be in good shape to make a better fist of things than they have so far this season.
Getting used to the new manager's pass-and-pass-some-more mantra has also taken time; in a league where attacking quickly and pushing the ball forward is the only visible state of intent, both players and crowd have been occasionally unmoved by the constant ball rotation without palpable forward progress.
City, however, are doing it Guardiola's way. Whether Steaua Bucharest and West Ham have been the two most supine opponents or not so far this season, both have been put to the sword on their own ground by a City side passing them to death. This is what, in all its beauty, simplicity and effortless effectiveness, the Catalan has brought to the table.
That both games saw Silva, Aguero and Zabaleta to the fore is a fitting tribute to the old guard, especially as Guardiola's first season in charge ushers in a new generation of players, designed to better deliver the pass and move that the Catalan believes will deliver the results craved by everyone at Manchester City.