At Luton Town, Manchester City had both good and bad news. First the negative: City needs Jack Grealish to be healthy and in top form in order to play their best, most consistent football, so his injury is a major blow.

The good news is that they might not have to play at their peak if Erling Haaland performs as he did last night.

Haaland looked rejuvenated in other areas as well, charging down loose balls and shoving players aside like he does when he is at his most aggressive. He scored five goals in the 6-2 victory at Kenilworth Road, the first four coming from assists from Kevin De Bruyne.

Football is not easy, at least not for Guardiola’s brand of it. Perfect balance is what separates one of the greatest teams of all time from City, who are excellent in practically every game, even when they lose.

In order to properly utilise Haaland’s power, they had to make some adjustments last season. Grealish, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan, and Rodri kept things tight, moving the ball a little more cautiously, and winning the duels as Haaland and De Bruyne went on the rampage. Additionally, they required John Stones to advance from defense to support them.

Despite the fact that it took several months, there was much compensation done in response to Haaland’s particularly forthright threat, and the end outcome was a treble.

The problem with this season, especially at the beginning, is that most, if not all, of the players who keep things going have been out of the picture. Their replacements, such as Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez, or Jeremy Doku, have frequently posed a direct threat.

As a result, they have a very strong team that struggles a little to manage games.

When Guardiola spoke on Tuesday about Grealish’s “special quality,” he was probably alluding to that. “I maintained from the beginning that we need him because he brings a unique element to our team. He is necessary to us.

That talent is essential for City to appear like City at their best—their treble-winning, all-time best squad best. They therefore need Bernardo, Stones, and Grealish to handle the ball with greater care. especially without Gundogan in particular and Riyad Mahrez.

Although City has won recently and even kept a clean sheet for the first time since August, they haven’t played at their best. Nevertheless, they have given Haaland opportunities. The issue is that he hasn’t performed to his full potential either.

Even though he has been bailing City out of a few holes lately, he has been underperforming his expected goals numbers for the first time since he was a young player at Molde. This means that he is not finishing chances at the same rate that we have grown accustomed to.

Against Everton, they were having trouble producing, but he scored twice to give them the victory. He squandered numerous opportunities to score against Chelsea, where City would have likely prevailed with just one goal. Despite City’s lacklustre performance against Brentford, Haaland scored the game’s biggest opportunity. Furthermore, Foden scored the rebound after Haaland’s attempt was stopped to give City the victory against Bournemouth.

The key thing to remember is that, despite their inability to dominate games like they typically do, City is still able to set up opportunities for their star striker. Furthermore, City might not need to play at their best if he scores them.

Particularly with De Bruyne included in the mix; Haaland described De Bruyne as “a smart guy, and I like to play with smart guys” on Tuesday night.

Guardiola states, “Erling needs a guy with the vision, quality, and generosity.” “The least self-centered player in front of goal is Kevin. Erling’s motions are also necessary for Kevin. We are aware of their aggressiveness.

Of course, it isn’t as simple as Haaland scoring enough goals to make up for City’s inadequacies in match management; after all, when the season began, Arsenal was still comfortably leading the table.

The only time that City really picked things up was when Guardiola shifted Stones into midfield and all the other pieces clicked, and Grealish played a big role in that.

They have a great opportunity while they wait for Grealish and that unique attribute of his to return because Haaland is in this kind of form.