On Tuesday Manchester City secured safe passage to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 win against Championship strugglers Peterborough United. Yet despite the final score, City's performance was worryingly similar to their other recent outings.
For the third game in a row, Pep Guardiola's side struggled to break down a compact and deep-lying defence. Peterborough parked every man behind the ball when City were in possession, purposely closing the spaces between the lines to limit City's chances to create.
The Blues' created very little in the first-half, as was the case over the course of 180 minutes against Tottenham and Everton.
City lost 3-2 against the former and beat the latter 1-0, but the three goals they scored did not come through attacking incisiveness or free-flowing moves. In all three instances, a mistake of some sort came to City's aid.
Ilkay Gundogan's equaliser against Spurs was typical of City reverting to their plan B when things aren't going well. The idea is to make lots of crosses and pounce on the second ball, and that is exactly what happened.
Hugo Lloris spilt a Raheem Sterling cross and Gundogan was on hand to convert the rebound.
City's late equaliser, which looked to have salvaged a draw, was a Riyad Mahrez penalty, awarded by the VAR after Cristian Romero handled Bernardo Silva's cross. Again, a mistake giving City a helping hand.
Phil Foden's winner at Goodison Park a week later had an air of fortune about it, the ball falling to him in the six-yard box after Michael Keane reacted to a deflected as if he'd been standing in quicksand.
After another flat 45 minute showing down in Cambridgeshire it looked like City might need another defensive mishap to help them unlock the opposition defence
Mahrez did not start against either Spurs or Everton, but the manner of his goal against Peterborough showed exactly why he should have done.
After dribbling into the penalty area from the right flank, Mahrez performed a few customary step-overs before suddenly stroking the ball - without warning - through the legs of defender Hayden Coulson and into the bottom far corner of the goal.
At first it seems like a simple finish, but closer inspection shows that Mahrez generated enough power and accuracy on his strike with little to no back-lift, an incredibly difficult technique to get right. Placed the ball through Coulson's legs was no coincidence either - doing so unsighted goalkeeper Steve Bender at the crucial moment.
Of course, City have plenty of brilliant attackers, but as Guardiola said in his post-match press conference, Mahrez "is the best player in the final third that we have."
That individual quality, ingenuity and ability to produce something incredible from nothing is exactly what City need to have in their team when facing a compact and deep defence.
The Blues are arguably the best attacking side in Europe, but as we have seen over the past three games, opponents are working out how to stop them. Organisation at the back, reducing the space between the lines and cutting off passing options between midfield and attack are all ploys City will face regularly - if not in every game - between now and the end of the season.
If Guardiola does not want to rely on the the help of defensive mistakes, then he might need to consider starting his most in-form clinical attacking weapon in most games.
The moments of magic produced by Mahrez could prove to be the difference between City winning the Premier League title or finishing as runners-up to Liverpool.
Is Riyad Mahrez key to City breaking down deep and compact defences? Follow our City Is Ours writer Alex Brotherton on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
