Pep Guardiola went all Zen.
‘The mind and head can always control your body,’ he said, a mantra that should chime among a wounded Manchester City. ‘We had the willing to make more effort.’
The injuries, most of them muscular, keep coming —Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne, Benjamin Mendy and Gabriel Jesus the headline absentees this week — but here was some fibre.
City ground out their victory and these strange times have left their manager reaching for different qualities.