Two things here highlighted Manchester City's problems. Hearing their own young mascot give Leicester the victory at the start of the game was one of them. Seeing their goalkeeper Stefan Ortega booked for wasting time with 20 minutes left was the other.
So yes, this city of Pep Guardiola facing 2025. Uncertain, insecure and largely unrecognizable. But they have a victory to sustain them after this difficult afternoon in the East Midlands and that is at least something.
The Premier League champions really didn't deserve to win this match. A draw would have been fair. Leicester arguably created the better chances and Jamie Vardy will certainly rue the simple one he missed midway through the second half with the score 1-0. Six minutes later, Erling Haaland headed City's decisive second goal.
But City won and Haaland scored. Both of these things will be more important to them than anything else. City's recent run now stands at two wins in fourteen and Haaland's at two goals in eight. It is an improvement – albeit a small one – and perhaps a platform on which a proper recovery can be built.
They will have to play better than this and Guardiola more than anyone will know it. City were clinical and that was a good sign, but, equally, they had to be. Savinho gave them the lead in the first half and Haaland doubled it with 16 minutes left. In between, however, City lacked any kind of control in terms of pattern, territory or possession. Leicester created the best chances (they hit the post and one of them was cleared off the line), but they just didn't take them.
City's traveling fans were loud and amusingly self-deprecating. 'We stay awake,' they sang. Likewise, they will know what they saw from a team that was at least more recognizable in terms of its lineup. There were fewer square pegs in the round holes. Kevin de Bruyne also returned to the team and wore the captain's armband.
Erling Haaland scored his first goal in five games for Manchester City to secure a hard-fought victory.
Savinho (center) had scored the first goal, his first in the League with the champions.
The victory eased the pressure on Pep Guardiola after winning just once in nine games.
As for his football, there were some early signs of improvement. The defending champions were more confident on the ball. There was more input from Phil Foden and that was long overdue. Meanwhile, Haaland once again looked like a striker who wanted to go score a goal rather than one who was willing to sit around waiting for it to happen.
The opposition should have been all they needed to cheer them up. Leicester have been very poor of late, porous at the back and lacking attacking threat. In fact, City could have gone ahead in the seventh minute when some good play involving Rico Lewis and De Bruyne gave Haaland a chance. The Norwegian's low shot looked destined for the bottom corner before Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk stuck out a foot to parry it.
City were in front for much of the first 20 minutes and although it didn't last, it's exactly how they would have liked it to be. However, Leicester looked capable in transition and that was a feeling that lingered. Captain Vardy was back in the team and spent the first 45 minutes on the shoulders of City's centre-backs.
In the 10th minute, the 37-year-old looked to be in action when he was brought down by City goalkeeper Ortega. Grief? Red card? Both seemed likely until the linesman's flag was raised. Vardy had been whistled offside and the VAR cameras confirmed it.
Vardy also had a couple more chances. This is where the opportunity was for Leicester. There was a chance in the 19th minute after a mistake by City defender Jasko Gvardiol allowed James Justin to slot past Vardy. This time the City goalkeeper forced Vardy to deflect and then saved his low shot from an angle.
That seemed a significant moment because soon afterward Leicester were behind. De Bruyne fed Foden with a square pass from the right flank and when Stolarczyk saved his low shot from 25 yards, Savinho was on hand to convert the rebound for City's first league goal.
Was it Stolarczyk's mistake? They always say that the goalkeeper should stop the ball to the side if he can't keep it and that's what he did. That said, it seemed a little soft.
The setback did not stop Leicester from continuing to play their football. Moroccan Bilal El Khannouss was their brightest player, while Stephy Mavididi was also lively.
A cross from El Khannouss, a Moroccan born in Belgium, eluded everyone when it was finished low from the right. Then, in the 39th minute, he launched a beautiful ball from the other side and when City couldn't clear it, Facundo Buonanotte headed the ball against the post from seven yards.
A level game at halftime may have seemed right. City had failed to react after their goal. Their best chance after Savinho's goal had been created by Haaland, but an elegant dribble on the edge of the penalty area was followed by a low shot that went wide.
Things didn't improve much for City either in the early stages of the second half and by the time we reached the 70th minute, Guardiola was making substitutions to try to control the game while his goalkeeper was heckled by the home crowd. for wasting time. He was then reprimanded.
Leicester had been the dominant team during the middle third of the match. City were unable to regain possession or territory and it was only the wastefulness of the home team that prevented them from achieving a draw.
Buonanotte wasted a good chance in the 51st minute. He ran onto a beautiful ball from El Khannouss and really should have had his first shot over the goalkeeper. Instead, Buonanotte backed away and lost his balance. I wanted a penalty but it wasn't like that.
Other chances followed before City scored their second. Manuel Akanji, City's central defender, had to clear James Justin's shot off the line in the 62nd minute and then Vardy ran down the right to cross dangerously after Bernardo Silva appeared to bottle up a 50-50 challenge in the close sideline.
Vardy continued to be a pest, but his 68th-minute miss was arguably pivotal. Mavididi's cross from the left looked to have set Vardy up for a simple crouching header into an open goal, but instead he decided to tip the ball on the volley and it disappeared over the bar.
The truth is that Leicester had created enough chances but had not taken advantage of them. Six minutes after Vardy's miss, they paid a heavy price.
Young substitute James McAtee played a trick to beat Victor Kristiansen on the far touchline and the ball crossed the field quickly past De Bruyne towards Savinho. Why Haaland was allowed to move uncontrollably towards the penalty area was a mystery, but when Savinho's beautiful cross arrived, he was able to head back, cross Stolarczyk and reach the corner.
City's football did not deserve a two-goal lead. Not even close to that. But they had been clinical and there is something to be said for that.