When Manchester City's official Twitter account published the starting line-up Pep Guardiola had selected for his side's Champions League tie away at RB Leipzig, a familiar phenomenon occurred.
No other elite-level club has a fanbase that goes into meltdown over team selections quite like City's. An hour before kick-off, Pep is often criticised for one of two things: picking a side that is too weak or picking a side that is too strong.
The latter was the case before the 2-1 defeat to Leipzig on Tuesday. Having already sewn up top spot in Group A thanks to a 2-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain two weeks ago - in which Guardiola dropped a tactical masterclass on old adversary Mauricio Pochettino - the trip to Germany was a dead rubber for City.
The majority of City fans saw the fixture - which Leipzig had to get a result from in order to qualify for the Europa League - as a chance for Pep to rest key players and give his ever-growing collection of talented youngsters a run out.
At his pre-match press conference on Monday, Guardiola confirmed that Rodri, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva and Aymeric Laporte had been left in Manchester, and revealed that Kevin De Bruyne, in need of minutes after a spell on the sidelines with Covid-19, would definitely start.
While five youth teamers - Cole Palmer, James McAtee, Romeo Lavia, CJ Egan-Riley and Joshua Wilson-Esbrand - travelled with the squad to Germany, Guardiola remained tight-lipped about their chances of featuring. As it turned out, Palmer's three-minute cameo was as much as they got.
Many City fans were baffled by Guardiola's failure to use the match as an opportunity to show the teenagers, McAtee in particular because of his contract situation, that there is a clear pathway open to them for first-team minutes.
Not only that, but many questioned the inclusion of Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker in the starting line-up. After all, neither have been short of minutes this season and the latter ended up getting himself sent off, something which could cost City in the next round.
But if you take a step back and look at the team that played in an empty Red Bull Arena, you can see where Pep was coming from.
City have been at their brilliant best over the past month, but football of that quality is not something that can be turned on and off like a tap; it takes a string of games to build rhythm and momentum, to get into the groove of doing things in a certain way and for the players to become fully in tune with each other.
Given that Bernardo, Rodri and Cancelo all needed a rest, and Laporte and Gabriel Jesus were ruled out with minor injuries, would it have been wise to rest two more crucial players in Walker and Gundogan?
Guardiola said after the game that he picked both as they needed to play for their rhythm, having missed the win at Aston Villa last week. Bringing six players who had not played in a week into his starting XI for the visit of Wolves this coming Saturday would have been risky. Instead, Gundogan and Walker will be up to speed and raring to go.
Looking at the rest of the line-up, there can't be many arguments with Guardiola's decisions. Nathan Ake, John Stones, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Zack Steffen and (to a lesser extent) Riyad Mahrez were always going to play to keep them sharp and happy.
Like De Bruyne, it made perfect sense for Jack Grealish and Phil Foden to play, given that both only made returns to the starting line-up at the weekend after injury. That Foden may have picked up another ankle injury is bad luck rather than his manager's fault.
When the needs of such a deep and talented squad are considered, it's difficult to see where the youngsters could have fitted in. Perhaps it was Guardiola's plan to introduce the likes of Palmer and McAtee in the second half, but the forced withdrawals of Foden and Ake, combined with the fact that City were losing, scuppered that.
Like everything Guardiola does, there is method to the madness. Of course, supporters want their stars to be protected and the next generation to be given a chance, but sometimes circumstances dictate team selections.
City were poor against Leipzig, so there was clearly something wrong. But to be fair to Guardiola, he had no real reason before the game not to make the selections he did. His decisions aren't always as barmy as they first appear.
Do you think Pep Guardiola got his team selection wrong against RB Leipzig? 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.
