Manchester City starting as they mean to go on under revolutionary Pep Guardiola

Better late than never. It is becoming Manchester City’s motto. A match was a microcosm of a wider sensation. Their wait for Pep Guardiola was extended by his three-year stint at Bayern Munich. Their wait for his first proper Champions League match was extended for 24 hours longer than they expected because of a Manchester downpour.

Yet delays have been followed by fast starts. Borussia Monchengladbach were swept aside, beaten 4-0 in a scoreline that may have flattered the visitors. City made it seven wins from seven under the Catalan. In six of them – the exception was their rather irrelevant second leg against Steaua Bucharest – they have surged into early leads. First halves have become an opportunity to demoralise opponents. City twice relied on late goals to beat Borussia last season; now they deliver statements of intent from the earliest of exchanges.

Guardiola has been quick to make his mark. Ambition is evident from the start, in an expansive, exciting style of play, in the way he challenges received wisdom by asking why clubs cannot win the Premier League and the Champions League in the same season. His impact is felt throughout a side being radically recalibrated.

The simplest measure is in Sergio Aguero’s goal tally, though even that might be contentious. Just as rendering Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi more prolific could be taken as a sign of Guardiola’s prowess or an indication that he is blessed to be given such wonderful talents, Aguero scarcely requires an elite manager to find the net. “His talent in the box is natural,” said his manager.

But Aguero’s five appearances have brought nine goals. Two outings in the Champions League – one a qualifier, the other a group-stage game – have both produced hat-tricks. Aguero has shown such sharpness before; never, perhaps, has he been fashioned so many chances. Borussia, like Steaua before them, were the most generous of opponents, playing with a naivety that belied Andre Schubert’s previously unbeaten record against Guardiola. “I know perfectly this team, Borussia Monchengladbach,” said the Catalan. That knowledge was exploited, incisively and ruthlessly.

It was done without David Silva, the elegant architect of many a demolition job. Nolito, the clinical recruit, went unused. The prodigies Leroy Sane and Kelechi Iheanacho were confined to brief cameos, which were still enough for them to combine for a goal. Even when Guardiola selects five attacking players, as he has done in every match, there are others in reserve.

While threatening to revive the W-M formation, he combines a hint of the retro with an ultra-modernism that can make him appear a revolutionary. Traditionalists may console themselves with the thought that, as is their wont, the City fans still boo the Champions League anthem, even though they were semi-finalists last season and possess a manager who has won the competition twice.

“They must forget what happened in the past,” Guardiola said, admonishing the noisy dissenters and absent supporters alike after a mere 30,270 turned up. “Today the stadium is not completely full so the only thing we can do is play good so the people at home say: ‘Wow, next time I will be there.’ We have to be so proud to play in this competition.”

Those who stayed away – perhaps because they were unable to make a rearranged game – missed a display of imagination and urgency, along with further evidence that Guardiola is not as didactic as his critics suggest. “The fundamentals are always the same but we adapt to the players,” he said.

His football has evolved according to his personnel. Aguero’s supplier and closest challenger for the man-of-the-match award Kevin de Bruyne is in the inside-right role Xavi occupied in his Barcelona team and, whatever tiki-taka is, the Belgian is no proponent of it.

He is thrillingly direct, a man who is always on the move. Xavi made the ball do the running. De Bruyne is thoroughbred and workhorse in one. Xavi was playmaker, De Bruyne is line-breaker, bursting beyond defences, looking to split them with passes. He cares not for pass completion rates. He has more in common with Arjen Robben, who confounded some predictions by proving pivotal for Guardiola, than Xavi.

The debutant Ilkay Gundogan is more of a Barcelona-type player. His City debut, and his first appearance since April, was an auspicious affair. “When a player has been so long without playing, it is always a surprise how he will react but good players are so intelligent,” his manager enthused. “He played with the quality he has.” Gundogan, perhaps more than Aguero or De Bruyne, may prove an embodiment of his beliefs. He has kaleidoscopic vision and the gift of simplicity.

A first impression was overwhelmingly positive. For Gundogan, read Guardiola and City’s class of 2016-17. They have started as they mean to go on.