You will have to go back a long way to find the last time Pep Guardiola picked a Manchester City team lacking the ingredient he usually treasures above all others: control.
So perhaps it was fitting that by the end everyone inside the Etihad had chucked the shackles away and embraced the chaos. This was the joy of six for City and the outpouring at the final whistle was euphoric.
The perfect start in the Premier League continues but this was an afternoon that was much more difficult than it looked like being.
For 45 minutes, the attacking quartet of Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland had taunted Nottingham Forest.
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