The dazzling debut of Omar Marmoush again received Manchester City fans from their chair.
Buying the £ 59 million from Frankfurt ran Chelsea Ragged for 74 minutes in their 3-1 victory on Saturday and had bad luck not to score.
And in the exposed show of Sunsport, Dean Scoggins looks at how Marmoush is central to the new 'direct' tactical plan of Pep Guardiola while trying to restore their urge to trophies this season.
Here are three tactical gold clogs from the Etihad triumph of the city …
1) Not Tiki-Taka, but fast attacker
Marmoush was electric and played from the left as a 'from the inside' instead of a winger or not 10.
It was noticeable how direct city was – it was not the short, fast passes between the lines that we are so used to from Guardiola teams.
But instead there were balls across the top and around Chelsea to Marmoush, Josko Gvardiol and Matheus Nunes who burst through the defense.
Marmoush set the tone – pointing to where he wanted the ball to play, short shot, from Spits Erling Haaland, before he turned and shoots behind the high line of Chelsea in spaces.
The Norwegian striker Haaland had cut a lonely and isolated figure during the horror run of the city in November and December, but he was smiling again on Saturday.
Casino Special – Best Casino Bonuses of £ 10 deposits
He scored a great goal and had some friends to play with. Marmoush supplemented Phil Foden on the other side when playing and around the frontman.
City keeper Edererson was directly and played it directly to Haaland when he became one-V-one against a defender.
But it was not only 'hoof it', this was a tactical plan with Marmoush and Foden who completed a triangle of attackers who gave Chelsea's nightmares.
While Haaland spelled the defenders, Foden and Marmoush supported him. And when Haaland fell short, his partners burst into the space behind it.
It gave City a new dimension and, as Pep admitted last week, was more related to the 'modern' style of Liverpool, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Brighton.
2) New form, new city
The switch from Spaniard Guardiola was not only in their immediate style, it was also the shape he got his players to take on.
Many Premier League teams discuss a 3-2-5 attacking form of what their 'on-paper' line-up is.
City would usually do this of a 4-3-3 setup by turning a full-back to midfield, leaving three defenders behind, a midfielder next to that full-back in midfield and five attackers to roam ahead.
But against Chelsea, Pep's new form saw it becoming a 2-3-5 in attack with Bernardo Silva, Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan play like the three for the Center-Backs and Full-Backs Gvardiol and Nunes that are entitled in the attacking line .
It was daring – Chelsea almost punished the city at the beginning of the possession, but Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer wasted opportunities – although City grew in the game and a constant threat to Chelsea.
Enzo Maresca's side package midfield, so City went around it.
3) Full-backs a throwback
Gvardiol is now the best -scoring defender in the Prem, so it is no surprise to see him burst forward in the box.
It was more of a shock to see nunes playing in earlier games but in this form, he was not really a defender for most of the game.
Pep had his full-backs play like ninety and noughties who attacked full-backs, overlap, hug the line and push their opposition wing backwards.
Their heat maps show that they hardly dared that the infield and the goal of Gvardiol came from the shot of Nunes and Run was parried by Robert Sanchez because both runs passed past and made in Chelsea.
Gvardiol Pinning Back Noni Madueke also saw the blues wing player Nunes on the side for the opening goal of the city.