Usually it is now all arranged with a similar pattern. Usually everyone in Manchester City knows where they stand and routines happen where you could put your watch on.
Vincent Kompany lets coaches roll their eyes by recovering in a miraculous way from constant injuries to appear in every game before trophy takes; Previously non-beneficiary Nathan Ake was undeveloped on full back; A large midfielder who looks from the couch during the run-in.
Not now, not this year, and Pep Guardiola who does not return one, but three players in Southampton are proof of that.
With the hamstring of Erling Haaland, the adductor of Manuel Akanji and the shape of Phil Foden, the trio had not started collective 27 games before he was thrown on the south coast.
Talk about the trust of the city before he went to St Mary's, apparently intended for anything but the qualification of Champions League that now remains in his hands, but in the balance, or is Guardiola not sure of his team for the FA Cup final of Saturday?
Possibly both and the latter is not normal in the last weeks of a city campaign. Yet this was no ordinary campaign, a set to go to the thread.
The changes may have also given Guardiola final answers. Haaland's reintroduction accepted, Akanji returned to the left shifted back to the left, which loses the thrust of Nico O'Reilly.
Gvardiol and Ruben Dias – the villain of the piece after criticizing the tactical prospects of Southampton – had spoken their partnership in recent weeks, but that has now been broken up.
Foden, meanwhile, only looks like trust and throwing his weapons when Haaland did not make contact with an inviting cross, painted the image of a man who needs a break.
Rico Lewis sheen the central midfield during the semi -final victory over Nottingham Forest, but did not return to that place. Some (not all) would claim that they missed the drive of Matheus Nunes from a back.
The reward of Jeremy Doku for encouraging performances was a place among the replacements, while Omar Marmoush only received the call in the 84th minute – even though he regularly appears the most obvious goal of the city.
Guardiola will have to find a way to find the Egyptian flowering next to Haaland, because both are too good to only observe.
However, they need this piece of silverware in the short term. It would be crossed to say that the season saves the city, because there is no divine right to win trophies every year, but the beating of Crystal Palace and then ends in the top five would continue to place the standards they set for themselves.
This can be as bad as it gets and yet many people around them would offer a leg for them. That is how Guardiola has re -defined expectations.
“The way we play is back where we used to be, or it will be there,” said Akanji. 'So I am really positive about the following games. I played with a lot of pain all season.
'At a certain point it was too much for my body. It was when I did the MRI and the doctor was stunned and said I needed an operation … I knew it was too much. '
Akanji broke a soft sigh when he called the club World Cup “season” of the city could continue until mid-July and there is time to tinker. Perhaps it is the Arena where the manager tries the newest style change.
For now, Guardiola can do the best what he has always done: sticking to the core of a starting XI that has collected results that brought them into a position where the victory in Southampton Europe should have effectively select. Just to push them over the line.