What a strange minute.
Midway through Manchester City's second half of holding on for dear life against Arsenal on Monday morning, Erling Haaland had a new gig.
The most feared striker in the Premier League was plonked at centre back, shepherding Viktor Gyokeres, ready to repel.
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Arsenal bounced the ball around, and there was Erling, checking shoulders and holding the line between Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol like he was prime Tony Adams.
There was a lead to protect, and bugger it, this was a means to an end.
Of course, a late Arsenal equaliser off Gabriel Martinelli's direct run with Haaland in cotton wool on the bench, subbed on 76 minutes, meant three points became one.
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But this was a new City. Evolved City. Do what it takes City. A second half camped primarily on the edge of their own box was exactly what sides have done for nearly 20 years against Guardiola teams.
Guardiola has made a career out of staying a step ahead, and with a raft of new players, and a squad who haven't had a proper pre-season thanks to the Club World Cup, evolution has taken on a completely foreign tone.
Sure, City have gone to the Emirates before and dealt with having 35 per cent possession – this wasn't an outlier – but the field position of Arsenal, the reluctance for City to press higher, the sight of Haaland embedded in a back seven was like watching a foreign language movie without subtitles.
For Guardiola, in the moment, off three days break from a Champions League game, right after an off-season that never was, it was a moment that helped define a pleasing outcome. His players doing whatever it takes, for each other.
"How we celebrate, how we are communicating, how you make an effort (for the teammate), and we lost it a lot last season," Guardiola explained after a point earned the hard way.
"And this season I don't give a f— about the result, I want to see the spirit back.
"And after that, the tactics."
As City set about reclaiming the title, Guardiola peeling everything back to sport's primal instincts wasn't on the bingo card, especially after the 4-0 opening day touch up of Wolves, but it speaks of necessary pivots to negotiate a delicate opening to the season.
Haaland, a 90-minute machine in most big games, didn't see it out at Arsenal, and a part of Guardiola pivoting might have something to do with what is being felt elsewhere out of the Club World Cup, with numerous players who appeared at the FIFA extravaganza suffering serious soft tissue injuries.
PSG's brilliant duo Desiree Doue and Ousmanne Dembele. Trent Alexander-Arnold at Real Madrid. Liam Delap for Chelsea. More to come.
It's a strange time, in more ways than one.
WOLVES AT BAY
Graham Potter at West Ham is under huge pressure. The heat on Ruben Amorim has been dialled down a degree, no more, following Manchester United's win against Chelsea. Some Villa fans are wondering out of the corner of their mouths what has happened to their side under Unai Emery.
And yet Vitor Pereira, of Wolves, the only team with zero points from a possible 15 to start the season, has just inked a new three-year deal.
Wolves chairman Jeff Shi was lavish in his praise of Pereira, who guided the club away from relegation last season.
"(Vitor) has brought clarity, energy and a team spirit that gives us the foundation to be successful," Shi gushed on the press release, never a place for anything but big dreams and immense hope.
Leeds promptly went to Molineux on the weekend and popped three past Wolves by halftime. Those goals were not from a lack of understanding between a new squad. Merely a lack of the basics.
After the next three games – Everton, Spurs, Brighton – let's check back on those foundations.
KICK OFF
OK, now it's getting ridiculous.
The humble kick off has been destroyed, replaced by barbaric ideals that have no place in the beautiful game. Of course, that's a little over the top, but it's hard to think of it any other way after Bournemouth-Newcastle on Sunday evening.
First half, Bournemouth kicked off by flicking the ball up to Alex Scott who booted the ball higher than Nathan Cleary ever will, his teammates unable to get to it before Nick Pope received in Newcastle's area.
Second half, Newcastle's turn. Sandro Tonali, a technically gifted player, promptly smashed the ball – without a touch from a teammate – over the left wing touchline deep in Bournemouth's half.
The game didn't deserve a goal purely for the fact it saved us from another kick off.
What next? The kick off is used as a mechanism to belt the ball at an opponent, hoping to hurt him? Crossbar challenge? Hit the corner post to keep it in play as far away from goal as possible?
Football's endless cycle through tactical phases and "new" ideas will hopefully move on to the next idea from kick offs. Perhaps an old one. Keep the ball.
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