Manchester City's rivals clutched desperately at a collection of straws when Erling Haaland delivered a low-key performance in the Community Shield defeat against Liverpool.
They hoped his stellar record in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund might disguise a flat-track bully who would take time to adapt to the Premier League and could even disrupt City's studied cerebral style with his more explosive, physical approach and brute force.
It was the sort of instant, hopelessly flawed rush to judgement that had the Premier League's other big new attacking arrival, Liverpool's Darwen Nunez, lampooned as Andy Carroll reincarnate after just a few minutes of his first friendly.