Ice was the carpet of the street outside the Aspmyra Stadion as Manchester City disembarked their coach before one of European football’s greatest ever shocks.
Pep Guardiola’s side approached the walk-in gingerly. While none of the players slipped, the Norwegians got them eventually anyway - City were later left on their backsides by a gallant and progressive Bodo/Glimt.
This last fortnight has encapsulated the story of City's season in a way – some of it great, some of it not so. They can go on imperious eight-match winning streaks yet also throw games away.
The key for Guardiola now is to steady the ship, lean on two stellar new signings in Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, and engineer a more consistent level of performance. Because, even with this slump, City are in a position they would have accepted back in the summer.
WHICH CITY ARE WE GOING TO GET?
The campaign started with those two defeats at the hands of Tottenham and Brighton, indicating that this was going to act as a transitional year while bedding in all of the new faces.
Guardiola, who had appeared bereft down at the Amex Stadium, recently revealed that back then he was still trying to figure out how best to deploy certain players. That the press wasn’t right – even with the appointment of high-intensity junkie Pep Lijnders. That they needed to get more from Erling Haaland and were perhaps asking him to do too much off the ball.
In what was an illuminating couple of minutes, he loosely talked about how City had been ‘too risky’ and added that ‘managers aren’t magicians’.
So after Brighton, two defeats from three in the Premier League, logically it felt like a title charge was out of reach – not as a consequence of the results, but the muddled performances and problem solving required.
But Guardiola and Lijnders corrected the issues, noticeably not operating quite such a high defensive line, and City went on a run of very strong displays – even if results weren’t always there, with a late dramatic concession of two points in Monaco and then losing at Aston Villa.
It felt like there was something to work with though, that Phil Foden was storming his way back into proper form, Haaland netting every week – Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol a solid partnership – and Nico O’Reilly excelling at left back. Rayan Cherki hadn’t even clicked into gear by that point.
Things got even better, other than an unfortunate defeat at Newcastle – for which Guardiola blames the referee – and an unfathomably bad home loss inflicted by Bayer Leverkusen on a night that spelt the end for the outgoing Oscar Bobb.
Eight straight victories until Christmas put City bang in the title race, chasing Arsenal and the momentum was with them. Grinding a win out at Nottingham Forest – to take them top for a few hours – should have been a big moment in the season, away fans and players as one as Cherki’s late winner heaped pressure on Mikel Arteta’s side.
City haven’t won in the league since, now their top-eight spot in the Champions League is in jeopardy but – as proven by running through the inconsistency of this season – there also came that huge performance at St James’ Park in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Confused? Supporters probably are too. Maybe with the £425million spent in a year, with such a huge churn of players, that inconsistency ought to be expected. Maybe the inconsistency actually offers hope that this run – two wins in seven including a wretched derby defeat – can soon end and City can come back and push Arsenal.
The important thing to note with this City is that nobody knows what will transpire. They are equally likely to suddenly click again as they are to completely fall away.
THE INJURY LIST
City will not earn much sympathy for their lengthy injury list, with both Gvardiol and Dias injured during the draw at Chelsea in a way that forced the club to intensify interest in Crystal Palace captain Guehi.
They were missing 11 through injury, suspension or ineligibility for Bodo – and that number includes the almost forgotten Mateo Kovacic. Rayan Ait-Nouri started at right back, too much having been asked of young Max Alleyne over the past few days as well.
While the injuries are an obvious issue, that Leverkusen match – a 2-0 defeat when Guardiola named a second string to see who would stand up for him – has hampered them in a way we didn’t notice as City kept winning before New Year.
Guardiola barely made a change in the eight games across 29 days after Leverkusen. Only Nico Gonzalez kept his spot, with Tijjani Reijnders in and out. The rest were barely used at all. The same players went to the well time and again, that now possibly having caught up with them.
THE BIG GUNS NOT FIRING
One of those is Haaland, who Guardiola admitted last week was ‘exhausted’. He’s not scored from open play since December 20, a stretch of eight games. He looks mentally and physically shot, although that cannot excuse failing to come close to contributing in the build-up, pressing and holding possession.
The way Bodo were able to win a 50-50 duel against Haaland in the run-up to the first goal on Tuesday night is indicative of where the 25-year-old is currently at.
Guardiola started him against Exeter City in the FA Cup, presumably in expectation of scoring for a confidence boost but he came off at half-time without finding the net. The hosts finished on 10.
To his credit, Haaland fronted up in Bodo as one quarter of the leadership group, and called the night ‘embarrassing’. He took responsibility for his own misfiring too and obviously needs to have a weekend off. Omar Marmoush’s return from the Africa Cup of Nations should offer him that.
Haaland’s not the only one, of course. Foden has dipped significantly, hooked early at Old Trafford and then in the Arctic Circle. He’s lost his spark and zip. And Rodri currently looks like a shell of his former self, with Guardiola insistent that the Spaniard won’t recapture anywhere near his best until next season.
While Gonzalez is injured, Rodri has had to play more than City are comfortable with, and he is evidently off the pace – clear in his involvement in Bodo’s third goal and then the subsequent sending off, struggling with opponents running away from him.
They have to hope Arsenal do not similar to them all.