There was a wonderful kind of chaos about the aftermath of Manchester City's victory over Newport County in their FA Cup fifth round tie last Saturday as crowds of home fans clustered around the makeshift building that houses the changing rooms at Rodney Parade, waiting for City's Harlem Globetrotters to emerge.
Journalists making their way down from the press box in the Hazell Stand were directed around the back of the building to get to the post-match press conferences on the other side of the stadium.
They walked past Pep Guardiola, pacing around outside with his phone pressed to his ear, a picture of restless energy, and looked through an open door to see City's players celebrating with gusto.
Pep Guardiola refused to surrender his football identity, and Manchester City have flourished
It was fascinating to see City taken out of the environment of the Premier League and how they dealt with it. Guardiola said he was more proud of their victory in south Wales than he was of times when they beat another elite team.
Later, the City players invited their beaten opponents into their changing room to chew the game over. It meant a lot to the Newport players, according to manager, Michael Flynn.
'Their players are full of class and their manager is full of class,' said Flynn, as he looked back on City's 4-1 victory.
The other thing about City that day was the way they played. They did not make any concessions to the environment. They had been issued with dire warnings about the state of the pitch, which still bore the markings of the rugby matches played there by Newport Gwent Dragons, but they did not compromise their style. Phil Foden dominated the game with his elusive movement and his slick passing. Ederson still insisted on playing the ball out from the back.
At a time when other leading clubs — particularly Arsenal and Chelsea — are struggling with crises of identity, City will attempt at Wembley on Sunday to win the first of the four trophies they are chasing this season secure in the strongest identity of any team in the top four divisions, with honourable mentions for Liverpool, Spurs, Leeds and Norwich.
City were taken from their Premier League environment at Newport and warned of a poor pitch
We know what we are going to get with City whether they are playing on a poor pitch on the banks of the River Usk, in the Champions League first knockout round against Schalke 04, on another poor pitch in Gelsenkirchen, or at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final against Maurizio Sarri's struggling Chelsea.
In the midst of his first season at the Etihad, when some
