With his back to his manager, Jack Grealish stood no more than a couple of yards away from Pep Guardiola and knew what was coming.
That his number was the third of three to be lit up by the fourth official was almost cruel - the hook had been inevitable after as ineffective a performance as the £100million recruit has put in for Manchester City. And having failed to score or assist in 35 of his 44 matches for Guardiola’s team, that is saying something.
His contribution against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night was an hour of predictability from a player who should be all about unpredictability. And that is a problem for Grealish and Guardiola … but not for Gareth Southgate and England.
City first. When I say it is a problem for Pep, it is not a major one, not one that he is going to be losing excessive sleep over.
If he plays Grealish and the former Aston Villa man is lousy, the manager simply replaces him with a world-class option from the bench. On Wednesday, that replacement happened to be Phil Foden and he was marvellous.
And while the boardroom hierarchy would obviously like to see a nine-figure signing work out well (and maintain a high sell-on value), Guardiola is under no pressure to keep persevering. He’s Pep, he does what he wants.
But Grealish should still be a very useful option as City compete on many fronts and the player himself must be getting mightily frustrated at making so little impact from that position on the left flank.
The suggestion that Guardiola is culpable is based on the idea that he does not give Grealish license, that the free spirit which roamed at Villa is shackled by Pep’s tactical restrictions. But does Bernardo Silva ever look shackled? Foden? Kevin de Bruyne? No.
Yet Grealish gave the argument credence when he was last on international duty.
“I do feel like I play with a lot more freedom here (with England) and hopefully I can transfer that into my club football,” he said after a typically late cameo helped England to a 1-1 draw in Germany in the Nations League back in June.
No matter what his critics say, there is still time for that. Perhaps Grealish will take longer to adjust to Guardiola than others have, perhaps he never will.
But one thing is for sure, he remains the sort of maverick player that England needs. Very rarely has he failed to excite England fans and very rarely has he failed to give the team an attacking lift.
And between now and the start of the World Cup in late November, he is not likely to be over-used by his club manager. Which, from his professional point of view, might be a personal blow.
But from Southgate’s point of view, from England’s point of view, it should be a boost. Come Qatar, Grealish can still be in lights … for the right reasons.
