In his programme notes, Guardiola said it was his job to find solutions to his side’s plight and ominously added: “And I will.”
That calls for bold and radical thinking.
In addition to restoring De Bruyne to his starting line-up, Guardiola made a couple of other decisions that turned out to be quite significant.
Firstly, he placed Jack Grealish in a central spot alongside the Belgian, which allowed him to carry the ball into dangerous positions in the middle of the pitch, creating more space out wide for Doku and Silva and forcing the Forest defence to drop off, opening up room for De Bruyne.
Secondly, he stuck with Stefan Ortega in goal.
Guardiola did say in the build-up Ederson remained his number one pick. But this was the first time since May 2023, when he was manipulating his team for their final push towards a historic Treble, that Ortega started successive Premier League games.
And after ending that long 39-day wait for a victory, there has to be a question over when Ederson will return.
The German made a couple of priceless contributions between City’s first-half goals.
It could be argued that by standing his ground, he helped force Wood into the miss on which the entire contest swung.
But before that Ortega had produced a magnificent one-handed stop low to his right to ensure Morgan Gibbs-White did not sweep Jota Silva’s cutback into the bottom corner with his sweetly struck first-time effort.
Ortega was not a passenger, even after City had given themselves a three-goal cushion, gathering at the second attempt in a crowded penalty area after blocking Elliot Anderson’s powerful effort.
