Guardiola knows that a Manchester City win doesn’t solve any problems because Leicester have nothing to fear either.

Given Manchester City’s significant history prior to their recent success, it might be a bit of an understatement to say that this brutal form has given their fans new experiences.

The former long-suffering City fans who traveled to Leicester even showed their capacity for gallows humor by chanting ‘Stay in the City’ after their opening goal. is lost

But it’s certainly a run that has brought some unfamiliar experiences for those old heads as well as some novelty for the younger fans.

Today, for example, City got to experience one of football’s greatest sensations, one that is often denied to the biggest and most successful clubs: about 30 minutes of constant but unrewarded pressure. Then somehow getting a victory you don’t deserve at all. Your own goal by scoring in your first attack of the half.

Across the city A surprising run of frankly awful form that now stands at two wins from 14 games.Many have been left with the vague assumption that ‘Pep will sort it out’ without ever providing a compelling idea of ​​what that sorting would do. Or even what ‘it’ actually is.

This seems to be based mainly on Guardiola’s genuinely impressive managerial CV, which is fair enough, and more strongly on the vague notion that City always struggle a bit before getting their January motor going. . But the struggle is always surrounded by many other wins like ‘defeat to Spurs and then a disappointing draw with Crystal Palace’. Not those results surrounded by so many other defeats and draws. It has never been a win in 13 that required a layoff.

As welcome and important as that 2-0 win at Leicester was, it wasn’t an afternoon that mocked ‘it’ being ‘sorted out’ in any meaningful way. The exact same vulnerabilities that have existed during this troubling recent disaster were again in evidence.

In the first 10 minutes of the game, Leicester got the ball three times and could have scored three goals. Jamie Vardy twice saved City from disaster when he strayed a boot’s length offside when he didn’t need to be so precise, so vast were the acres he was being invited to run into.

The Vardy blind spot has been there for a long time. With Spurs Blindspot on the Pep Weirdness Index, so there’s always the possibility of something amiss, and it’s fair to say Pep’s woes would deepen if the old warhorse had another clinical afternoon.

An early penalty and potential red card for Stefan Ortega was avoided by an offside boot. A horrendous mistake by Josep Guardiola as he tried to pass the ball back to his keeper went unpunished. In the early stages of the second half in which Leicester dominated play there were further wasted chances, notably a high, flying effort where the situation surely called for a diving header.

The chance came just before the game-killing second goal to paint a deceiving picture of a far-from-normal win for the elite side.

Both goals had echoes of City’s former self. Goals born of muscle memory and deflection, the first clever passing move ending with a Phil Foden shot that should have been deflected back for a corner but instead deflected just past Savinho, James Justin Unmarked beyond the far post with a draw in. Pick up Bernardo Silva’s run.

The second goal was even more Old City, with New City’s James McAtee happily featuring in his creation and the Goalboat 3000 finally getting back on track after some much-needed upgrades and patches after recent hiccups.

Leicester had more chances after that and while the result may have provided a springboard to something, Pep and his players will know that luck was on their side and more valuable than the result. Occasional blips in attack patterns point to this. A line drawn in the sand or a corner turned.

Leicester, a struggling team potentially heading for relegation under a new and unreliable manager, will see this as a real opportunity. That in itself is revealing of where the city is at, and how difficult it can be to get out of such a tailspin.

We’ve seen teams go to City first, only to concede and then know their chance in the game is gone. Leicester didn’t do that here, especially given the threat we now know City will display. A glow that takes years to build can be destroyed in weeks. This is city life now.

Even if the results improve, there are likely to be more afternoons and evenings like this, where everything must be earned by finishing, where teams refuse to lie down because they genuinely believe the city is losing. can reach

Perhaps more importantly, the city knows it, too.

This victory was desperately needed to stop the bleeding. But it’s a small and incredible step down a long and uncertain path for the fallen champions.