Pep Guardiola turned up the heat on his Manchester City stars by demanding improved individual performances.
The last 10 days have brought a distinct change in the mood of City's manager, who had spent much of this campaign shielding players from criticism by bemoaning a non-existent pre-season amid an injury crisis.
Guardiola has now turned the focus on his squad after making a string of surprising calls with recent team selections.
Aymeric Laporte has not featured in any of the three matches since defeat at Tottenham and failed to make the bench for last week's 5-0 demolition of Burnley, a game that also saw last year's top scorer Raheem Sterling an unused substitute.