JACK GAUGHAN: Players are hit with a two-match ban if they accumulate 10 yellow cards through a season, with the tally reset after the 32nd game of the campaign.
Guardiola was wary of this descending into chaos, knowing that while City's attacking players possess all the quality in the world, their tendency to rush has been to the team's detriment this season.
JACK GAUGHAN AT THE ETIHAD STADIUM: Elliot Anderson, whom City admire considerably ahead of the summer window, curled in a beautiful equaliser to earn Nottingham Forest a draw,
JACK GAUGHAN: Manchester City's dressing room was so disconsolate that aside from nobody saying a word, players couldn't even bring themselves to shower.
JACK GAUGHAN: Team selections have been a particularly thorny issue with Pep Guardiola in recent days. Nothing new there really, He is always paying close attention to naysayers online.
Usually Guardiola would circle the pitch to applaud those who stayed behind, especially on a night that presented far more positives than such a crushing defeat would suggest.
The thinking behind this camp gives England's manager some breathing space, leaving the question marks over some stellar names hanging, and yet Friday morning's roll call felt brutal to a few.
The man who would become Pep Guardiola 's brain in that awe-inspiring, greatest team in Premier League history leant heavily on that intelligence during a tough first day on these shores.
JACK GAUGHAN: They pulled away from the group, the two of them. Only for about half a minute, Pep Guardiola and his right-hand man, Manel Estiarte, wandered off for a private word.
JACK GAUGHAN: Daily Mail Sport looks at the runners and riders, who is certain of their spot and which talents are nervously looking over their shoulders.
Pep Guardiola has done his fair share of dinners over a decade at Manchester City and one early in the manager's tenure helped shape an attitude that has brought untold domestic success.
