That was more like it.
A few knives were out when the teamsheet dropped against Burnley shortly before they smashed five goals past Sean Dyche's beleaguered side with a Riyad Mahrez hat-trick.
There was no room in the team for the lively Phil Foden, benched for a fifth successive Premier League game despite scoring the only goal against Olympiacos in midweek, Sergio Aguero couldn't make the squad after feeling something in his knee on Saturday morning, and the Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan combination in midfield that so infuriates some supporters was wheeled out again.
For a Manchester City team that has struggled with fluency and goals this season - looking slow and predictable in their stuttering start to the league campaign - the sight of Mahrez and the double pivot did not lift spirits.
Five seconds in the sixth minute of the game were all it took to respond to recent criticism and doubts about the direction this team is going in.
Rodri was sharp to intercept a wayward pass just inside the Burnley half and he strode forward purposefully before slipping the ball inside to his compatriot Ferran Torres. Torres took a touch forward then moved it along to Kevin De Bruyne, who didn't even need to control it as he moved it first time to Riyad Mahrez unmarked in the box.
Controlling it on his trusty left, Mahrez slid the ball past Bailey Peacock-Farrell and City were on their way.
A promising start, but could the Blues build on their excellent start?
The Etihad has been anything but a fortress this season as they were stormed 5-2 by Leicester and have dropped five points from their first three league fixtures. Guardiola put the Leicester collapse down to a lack of confidence in the team, and they have been unable to build much momentum in the two months since.
Quick thinking from Kyle Walker and Mahrez midway through the first half gave them two goals for the first time in seven league fixtures and lifted the tightness that has threatened to strangle the team at times this season.
After seeing a cross blocked, the right-back - playing in an unusually advanced role - threw the ball back into play from closer to the advertising boards than the pitch, finding Mahrez in the box and unwitting the Burnley defence. The Algerian did the rest, sublimely beating Ben Mee before slapping the ball in off the post.
From there, the shackles were well and truly off; it was a measure of the superiority of the home team that Kevin De Bruyne nearly pulled off an audacious lob from the touchline that brought back memories of Ronaldinho against England while one of the smallest players on the pitch in Torres had a header (somewhat confusingly) ruled out.
The result was sealed before half-time when a deliciously-chipped cross from De Bruyne was clinically finished on the volley by Benjamin Mendy, playing his second successive game since returning from his latest injury.
But if Burnley thought they would get away easily, more misery came after the break. Torres poured more salt into Claret wounds before Mahrez completed his hat-trick following excellent work from De Bruyne and substitute Phil Foden.
On his Premier League debut, the only crumb of comfort that goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell could cling to was that Gabriel Jesus was marginally offside when the stopper managed to make a save but knee the loose ball into his own net.
After such a difficult start to the season, this was much more like the City side that monstered the league for two consecutive years under Guardiola and raises hopes that they can put up a much better challenge for the title this season.
Once again, there are caveats. Burnley cannot be deemed the toughest of opponents, having only registered their first league win earlier this week and looking like they wanted to be on the team bus heading home for large parts of the game.
As City have already shown, 90 minutes is not enough to draw firm conclusions from. They are still yet to win consecutive league matches after nearly a quarter of the campaign and could yet end the weekend back in the bottom half of the table if results elsewhere go against them.
In terms of both results and performance though, this has to go down as one of the most satisfying. Win their game in hand and they will be three points behind champions and leaders Liverpool, who dropped points at Brighton this weekend to add to the feeling that this will be one of the most competitive title races in recent years.
Scoring five goals while not having to call for Raheem Sterling from the bench or even include Aymeric Laporte or Aleks Zinchenko in the squad - both rotated - is a show of strength that the Blues have not been able to call upon for some time.
Conspicuous in his absence through injury far too often last season, the French centre-back was not at all missed here with John Stones producing another encouraging performance in his second start of the week.
The only concern from the day was Aguero, left out of the squad after feeling something on the knee that kept him sidelined for five months earlier this year.
That may well cause City more trouble later down the line in a season in which they had struggled to score goals up until now. However, after such a dominant performance and a scoreline that people are far more used to seeing, their Argentine striker was not headline news.
They still have a long way to go, but everything clicked for Guardiola and City for arguably the first time since their opening-day win at Wolves.
