Get the ball into the box and Erling Haaland will be there.
That is the simple message Pep Guardiola has had for his players all season. And despite some early teething problems that did not affect any results other than the Community Shield, that is exactly what Manchester City's players have done.
After one of the more frustrating halves of the season for the reigning Premier League champions, all it took was one magical swing of the right boot of Kevin De Bruyne and there the Norwegian menace was hanging at the back post ready to smash in another ludicrously simple goal. Forty-nine minutes of dogged resistance from Aston Villa was wiped out and Julian Alvarez, Cole Palmer and Riyad Mahrez could all sit back down on the bench knowing they wouldn't now be needed to provide a spark to a City performance that had fizzled out in the fact of resolute defending.
Also read: Man City player ratings vs Aston Villa
That should have made it another three points, only for City to try to find Haaland again and again and again, spurning a number of chances and then conceding an equaliser that they could not react to have to leave the Midlands with a draw.
Guardiola had expressed a wish before the game for Villa to have more points despite the monstrous form City took into this fixture, anticipating that a team and raucous Villa Park would be even more whipped up to get a result when the need for points was greater. City did not need a reminder of how hard they were pushed in both games against Steven Gerrard's side last year.
The presence of Haaland again in the starting XI cannot have improved the home dressing room just as Nottingham Forest were disappointed that theirs was not the game for the deadly striker to get a rest. He may love the Champions League but he has started all six league matches so far.
As it was though, any desperation from the home side quickly turned into anxiety. The atmosphere was unusually flat and a frustration and restlessness quickly set in as the Villa players looked uncomfortable in the possession game they were trying to pull off against the champions.
Not that there was much for the away end to get excited about either. City dominated possession but too often had Kyle Walker - one of their least comfortable on the ball - as a key part of their build-up, including a huge chance in the fourth minute when he took the ball instead of Haaland in the box and then rather than giving the No.9 a tap-in or finishing himself he screwed his effort horribly wide.
City's relative sloppiness on the ball gave encouragement to those in claret and blue, and Ollie Watkins had everyone off their feet with a shot deflected wide by John Stones after Ashley Young has unexpectedly stopped De Bruyne in his tracks. From the resulting corner, Ederson was let off the hook as he jumped for the ball and couldn't collect it but was given a free-kick - although the ball was cleared off the line anyway.
City went in frustrated at the break, but that can never last for long when you have players with the quality of De Bruyne and Haaland. There may well have been no Premier League record for three consecutive hat-tricks but one was enough to give three precious points.
Haaland's effect cannot be underestimated in this side; where it took six months last season for a player to score 10 Premier League goals (Raheem Sterling at Norwich in February) the striker has done it in six matches. For all the success City have had with false nines, things are so much easier when you have a world-class centre-forward in your team.
That goal should have opened the floodgates for the Blues with chances opening up as the home side wilted. Kevin De Bruyne hit the crossbar from a free-kick and Haaland forced a few saves from Emiliano Martinez, yet the second would not come.
City players took Guardiola's instructions too literally, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden among those guilty of trying to thread the ball to a marked Haaland in the area when they had better opportunities to shoot themselves. For all it might feel like that, the Blues cannot win every game on the back of one player scoring the goals.
And, as so often happens in football, failure to capitalise when on top went on to matter as Leon Bailey smashed the ball past Ederson after sloppy work from Joao Cancelo and Rodri. Having made the hard stuff look easy, City contrived to stuff up the basics.
There was still time to score again, but the Blues had to deal with a belatedly loud crowd and had lost the momentum. Martinez was still needed again and Mahrez wasted an excellent chance to win it at the end, yet as the 94th minute came and went the defending champions could not really argue with a draw.
If more defensive errors and the sight of Walker limping off are not ideal, a point is far from ideal in the context of the league. City remain unbeaten with 14 points from their opening six games and their biggest expected threat are no closer to them; Liverpool dropped more points in the lunchtime fixture to give City more blood to sniff, even if they could not take advantage of it.
With the Champions League starting up again next week, every extra point built up in the opening six league games could be crucial in a race that usually comes down to fine margins. But if City keep getting the ball in the box to Haaland, they should remain on course for their ambitions this season.
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