While Manchester City asserted their dominance over Manchester United on Saturday without breaking into much of a sweat, one of their main protagonists this season watched on from the substitutes bench.
Jack Grealish had started nine out of 10 Premier League matches following his £100million summer move from Aston Villa, but he was omitted from Pep Guardiola's starting XI for the 186th Manchester derby.
Grealish's quiet performances in recent weeks had prompted questions over his suitability to this City side, and the Blues looking so comfortable without him in the 2-0 win certainly didn't make those concerns disappear.
What will offer Grealish some comfort then is the fact that a few of City's derby day heroes have, at various points, found themselves in similar situations, and emerged from the other side.
Some will dismiss this as a cop-out, but it's true: It takes a lot of time, energy and persistence for a new signing to adapt to Guardiola's demands.
The style of football Guardiola wants his team to play isn't really found anywhere else and can prove a bit of a culture shock for new recruits.
Outfield players, particularly midfielders and attackers, have to be so well-drilled in what to do at any given moment - what triggers from teammates to look out that indicate when to move, what kind of pass to make, when to press - that it can take months until they show their best form.
Just ask Rodri, Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva, who were all excellent at Old Trafford as they have been all season.
Despite twice asking to leave the club in recent times, Bernardo is a City fan-favourite, but things didn't start off all that well.
The Portugal midfielder was a star of the AS Monaco side that reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2016/17 - eliminating City along the way - and looked a perfect fit for the Blues.
Yet Bernardo endured a frustrating 2017/18 after City paid £45m for his services. He started only 15 Premier League games and ended the season with six goals and five assists.
The following campaign he played an integral role in City retaining their league title, illustrated by his 31 league starts and the incredible performance at home against Liverpool.
Rodri became a scapegoat figure during a frustrating 2019/20 season for City, one that the holding midfielder found to be a steep learning curve.
Adapting to the pace of the Premier League as a central midfielder is one thing, but also having to work on his awareness, passing and creativity in order to meet Guardiola's demands was another. Even last season Rodri struggled at times, but this season he has comfortably been the best holding player in Europe.
Joao Cancelo is another example. City's makeshift left-back created both goals against United after bagging a midweek hat-trick of assists in the Champions League, but two years ago many City fans were wondering why the club had given Juventus Danilo plus cash for him.
As everyone found out last season, Cancelo is in fact one of the most technically gifted players in the squad, and far more capable of playing the 'inverted' full-back role that Guardiola sometimes deploys than Danilo ever was.
Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling are other examples. After enduring so-so first seasons under Pep while they adapted, all went on to excel.
The moral of the story is that things take time. As Guardiola has pointed out on numerous occasions this season, Grealish was not signed to be a superstar now. He was brought in to be a top player over four or five years, hence why he penned a deal until 2026.
And it's completely fine that players take time to bed-in at City, as the Blues aren't in the business of signing quick fixes.
According to the CIES Football Observatory’s Sustainable Squad Management (SSM) Index, City have the most sustainable squad in Europe's top five leagues, based on player age, the average time they stay in the first team and how long on average their contracts have left.
That means that City can afford to give their signings the time they need, having proven such a model works time and again.
Grealish will likely be labelled a flop before too long, but he won't care; he needs only to follow the example of City's derby day heroes and he'll be just fine.
Do you think Jack Grealish will be better in his second season in sky blue? Follow City Is Ours writer Alex Brotherton on Twitter to join the conversation and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
