WHAT was looking like a routine win for Manchester City, as they went up by two goals in the first 15 minutes against Nottingham Forest, turned into an exercise in defending with 10 men after midfielder Rodri was sent off at the beginning of the second half.

When the Spaniard put his hands to the throat of Morgan Gibbs-White, the referee, Anthony Taylor, backed up by the VAR, Michael Salisbury, had no choice but to brandish the red card.

City manager Pep Guardiola immediately became more animated in his technical area after the sending-off, almost acting as the 11th player for 10-man City, such was his involvement from the sideline.

The crowd were spurred on, too, and what had been a fairly run-of-the-mill opening period turned into a game in which City had to fight for a result.

Guardiola introduced Kalvin Phillips in front of the defence in Rodri’s place and then added an extra player to the defensive line itself in Nathan Ake.

The home side were now set up with a back five, absorbing pressure.

The withdrawal of Jeremy Doku and Julian Alvarez left them without what might have been a good counter-attacking outlet, but Erling Haaland still had a good chance to score a third for City, sending a first-time shot over the bar from Ake’s cross.

The Norwegian striker had scored the second of those early goals, heading home a Matheus Nunes cross to add to Phil Foden’s opener.

The routine, typical (modern) City aspect of this win was carried out in the first 15 minutes, but holding on to the lead required something different.

Guardiola doesn’t want his side to be playing with 10 men too often. He said Rodri has to learn and has apologised to his teammates, but this was good training in case it does happen again in more testing circumstances.