The recent surge in Covid-19 cases among Premier League clubs has prompted a new favourite question for pundits and television analysts: how will the manager keep in touch during the game?
With Pep Guardiola absent from Manchester City's FA Cup win at Swindon Town on Friday having tested positive for the virus - seven first-team players and 14 members of the coaching staff are currently isolating - stand-in manager Rodolfo Borrell was asked exactly that question.
"We've been in touch for the preparations, he's in touch through one of the staff," the Catalan coach told ITV. "He [ Guardiola ] has told us he leaves it alone to us and we do our thing, but obviously, everything is planned."
As we know, everything went pretty much according to said plan. City cruised to a 4-1 win, with their movement and individual brilliance proving too much for the League Two outfit to handle. Cole Palmer in particular was magnificent, rather appropriate given Borrell's reputation for nurturing young players.
What is interesting about Borrell's remarks is what it tells us about the understanding and working dynamics between Guardiola and his army of assistants. It's an advantage that City have over many of their rivals.
Jurgen Klopp missed Liverpool's trip to Chelsea last weekend through self-isolation, with his assistant Pepijn Lijnders overseeing his side's 2-2 draw.
Klopp was in constant communication throughout the enthralling contest with another of his coaches, giving instructions and making tweaks via telephone. He could not sit back and let his colleagues put his game plan into action.
With City, the opposite is true. Thanks to long-standing personal and professional friendship and a shared dedication to core footballing principles like positional play, Guardiola and his assistants form a tight-knit group of elite football minds like no other. Pep can trust each of them with his life.
Juanma Lillo - who likely would have deputised for Guardiola at Swindon had he not also tested positive - has been one of Guardiola's inspirations since the start of his coaching career.
Domenec Torrent (who left City in 2018), Carles Planchart, Lorenzo Buenaventura and Manel Estiarte have all followed Guardiola from Barca to Bayern Munich to City, while Borrell, who worked with Barcelona's under-18s when Pep was first-team manager, was at City before Guardiola arrived, as were Xabier Mancisidor and Brian Kidd.
The group bounce ideas off each other, pitch in with suggestions and most importantly, are always singing from the same hymn sheet.
"We always plan the games together and everything was as we had planned," Borrell said when asked how much Guardiola had influenced proceedings at Swindon. "The reality is that he trusts us a lot and all the backroom staff and said 'listen, just go with what you believe and what you feel and if you need me you can call me any time'.
"That didn't need to happen. At half-time we had a short conversation, keep insisting on the same things we were doing in the first half because we were losing it a bit at the end of the first half so insisting on some concepts that we wanted to keep in place.
"I've been working with him for several years now and we think much alike."
Simply put, City don't miss Guardiola when he's not there. As remarkable a coach and tactician as he is, he has constructed a coaching set-up that operates like his players do. It doesn't matter who is absent as everyone can do everything. In this dugout version of positional play, the swapping of roles is near-seamless.
With the uncertainty that the latest coronavirus wave has caused, this could prove to be an invaluable strength.
Would you be confident if Pep was absent for City's next game? Follow our City Is Ours writer Alex Brotherton on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
