November 2020 will go down as one of the more productive international breaks that Manchester City have had.
With a more demanding schedule than ever before, the fortnight of rest at the club gave Pep Guardiola the time to come to a decision on his future and sign a contract extension that ties him to the Etihad until 2023.
It is excellent for the Blues, with the club having secured one of their primary objectives this season that will help them in upcoming transfer markets and the players that are already in the squad reassured over who will be in charge for the next three years. The Premier League can only benefit from having a manager of this quality and standing in the division for longer, while the man himself gets the opportunity to do what he has never done before - and been criticised by his detractors over - and try to rebuild a successful team.
If Thursday and Friday last week were dominated by the positives, the return of club football on Saturday gave a less cheery reminder about the task that Guardiola has signed up to.
City's title challenge last year was undone because the defence was unreliable and there were failings in attack at crucial moments - they may have scored a shedload of goals but that didn't mean they always scored when they needed to.
On the basis of the opening eight fixtures of this campaign, they are significantly improved at the back thanks to the club record purchase of Ruben Dias and return from injury of Aymeric Laporte. However, they are not impenetrable and their forward play has fallen off a cliff which makes things more difficult when they do concede.
If the club are delighted to have dispelled any doubts over the manager's future, they will now be aware that their victory only raises expectations on the team.
Any poor results or performances can no longer be caveatted by that uncertainty or by the idea of a cycle coming to an end. Guardiola is in his fifth of seven contracted seasons at City and after the disappointment of last season and the spending that followed the team are expected to put up a much better title challenge.
There are of course other understandable issues that have contributed to the slow start but, as the manager said at the weekend, ultimately it is his responsibility to lift the players and get the best out of them in spite of the issues surrounding them.
Guardiola's contract extension helps the continuity at the club going forward, but more immediately it has also raised the standard and pressure for the rest of this season with the Blues currently well off the pace in the league.
