Six days ago, at Stamford Bridge, Manchester City used their 'Get out of Jail Free' card to emerge with a huge three points in the Premier League title race. At Southampton on Wednesday night, Pep Guardiola couldn't repeat his game-changing substitutions as his side crashed out of the Carabao Cup in a defeat entirely of their own making.
City were chasing a sixth Carabao Cup title in eight seasons, and travelled to St Mary's full of confidence after back-to-back wins over Chelsea. However, in a competition they have taken so seriously under Guardiola - City's attentions felt like they were elsewhere in this quarter-final. Perhaps on Saturday's Premier League clash with Manchester United.
Whether it was another puzzling team selection, or a simple fact that too many fringe players failed to take their chance, Southampton simply wanted a semi-final place more than City and took it. Guardiola warned his players on Sunday of the need to be ready for everyone to be involved in their hunt for four trophies. After seeing their quadruple hopes end for another season, he may have a clearer idea of who is willing to fight for the remaining three.
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The off-night began an hour before kick-off, as Guardiola left supporters and pundits guessing at how his side would line up. His team had 11 players, but not necessarily 11 who all fit into a conventional formation - just like a week ago at Chelsea. There were three full-backs, one centre-back, and three wingers - but plenty of versatile players to mean only Stefan Ortega, Aymeric Laporte and Julian Alvarez could have been confident of starting in their preferred positions.
In truth, this was a line-up that said more about Guardiola's plans for Saturday's derby at Old Trafford, with only 62 hours separating full-time at St Mary's and kick-off against United. If Guardiola rested players for the second cup game at Chelsea as a Thursday-Sunday turnaround was too short, then he looked to avoid a repeat by keeping the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland and Nathan Ake on the bench for the second game in a week.
The resulting formation was something of a makeshift one, with Kyle Walker at centre-back as John Stones lacked fitness to be involved. Phil Foden was given a central role for the second time in a week, showing he may finally have earned Guardiola's trust in midfield after so long. But the flip side of that is that he may not be in line to start the derby, despite his hat-trick against United at the Etihad back in October. His fairly anonymous first-half performance at St Mary's added to that feeling.
Maybe it wasn't just Guardiola's mind that was drifting towards the derby, as City's start echoed their first half at Chelsea in the Premier League last week; when an experimental formation worked against the Blues and invited unnecessary pressure from kick-off. At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea failed to capitalise before Guardiola changed things at the break, but Southampton were galvanised by some sloppy City passing to test Stefan Ortega early on with a long-range effort and they repeatedly targeted Sergio Gomez at left-back with the pace of Moussa Djenepo.
The Saints high press restricted City to one dragged effort from Ilkay Gundogan, and when Walker and Phillips failed to deal with an Ortega pass out, it was Gomez who looked to intercept and play them out of trouble. But he could only telegraph his next pass so obviously that Lyanco could stride forward with the freedom of the Solent and pick out Sekou Mara in the centre to sweep home a deserved opener for the hosts.
Mara had fired a good effort over the bar moments earlier, but City failed to heed the warning as he wandered between Walker and Phillips for a good finish, just without any pressure that should have been on him.
And with the crowd sensing that City's minds were maybe not fully on the contest, Phillips was caught out pressing high up, allowing Djenepo to stride forward and take aim from 30 yards out. His sensational bending, dipping lob over the stranded Ortega doubled Southampton's lead within the half hour and left City players looking at each other for answers to the question of how they found themselves staring at a rare Carabao Cup exit.
If City got away with a poor first half at Chelsea, the Premier League's bottom side weren't as forgiving, and Guardiola could only watch from the edge of his technical area to see how his players would get themselves out of their latest mess.
As it happened, Guardiola had ideas of his own - even if he may have planned not to bring on De Bruyne, Ake and Manuel Akanji as early as 45 minutes. The City fans who made the journey south gave ironic cheers as it was announced that Gomez was one of the players replaced, while Walker's experiment at centre-back didn't make it into the second half.
Instantly, Guardiola got the response he wanted, with De Bruyne sending Alvarez into the area only for the shot to go wide. Adam Armstrong replied with a dragged shot of his own, but already City looked far more balanced with players playing in their regular positions. The focus was no longer on the derby, but instead trying to remain in a competition they haven't been beaten in within 90 minutes in since 2016.
Haaland followed De Bruyne off the bench to partner Alvarez, and while some of the sloppy passing continued, City could set up camp in the opposition half. Unsurprisingly, De Bruyne was central to the Blues' rescue mission, sending one cross too close to former teammate Gavin Bazunu and Julian Alvarez could only divert an effort into Bazunu's arms on the slide.
Ultimately, City's second half response was too little, and too late. Southampton will never have an easier game against a Guardiola side, even if they have a better record than most. If Guardiola wanted to see which fringe players were buying into his demands and who weren't, there were some clear culprits on show at St Mary's.
When Joao Cancelo conceded his side's second foul throw of the night after Gomez in the first half, right in front of the manager, Guardiola could only turn his back and walk back to his seat with a face like thunder.
Guardiola must take responsibility again for his formation, although he can do nothing about the sloppy passing, positioning and poor attitude of the players he selected. Even those called upon in the second half failed to raise the game for more than ten or 15 minute.
At the weekend, Guardiola warned that any player not willing to accept his rotation and match the hunger of the 4-0 win over Chelsea 'will not be with us.' Some players may have fallen further down in his estimation after this shambolic evening at Southampton.
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