As Jeremy Doku made his way to the bench after his Manchester City debut, there was a nod of appreciation from stand-in boss Juanma Lillo and a hand out to embrace. It might not have been the effusive pat on the head or hug that Pep Guardiola can often hand out, but by the standards of the more restrained Lillo, it was a sign of a job well done.
City's unusually hectic summer had ended with four new faces and all were in the squad against Fulham. Josko Gvardiol was a surprise substitute, but Matheus Nunes was not, having only moved from Wolves on Friday.
Mateo Kovacic has made the Etihad home very quickly, adapting in the manner you would expect of a 29-year-old with Real Madrid and Chelsea on his CV, as well as a World Cup final appearance. That left all eyes on £55million man Doku, perhaps the most un-Guardiola-like signing of the summer.
The 21-year-old is a dangerous dribbler and an attacker with a hint of the X factor about him. That doesn't always go down well at the Etihad, at least with Guardiola, especially if it's done in what he considers the wrong moment.
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But in a performance that took City to four successive wins at the start of the Premier League season, something last achieved in Guardiola's first season, he was solid if unspectacular. For a winger at City, that qualifies as a more than competent start.
City had actually made a sluggish and sloppy beginning to the game. In this fixture a year ago the jeopardy drew the Etihad crowd in after Joao Cancelo's red card and Andreas Pereira's equaliser from the penalty spot with more than an hour to go.
Guardiola demanded more from his players and the crowd and they delivered and the celebrations after Erling Haaland's injury-time penalty were animated and exuberant. This time it was groans that accompanied some of those early misplaced passes, with City struggling to progress the ball up the pitch and guilty of giving it away too often.
There had been signs of life just before the equaliser, sparked by the switch of wings for Doku and Phil Foden, and the goal came about through some initially patient play, before an injection of quality from Kovacic. A rare Haaland mis-hit fell to Julian Alvarez to finish.
The equaliser was a gift but City were back in front before the break. Slack Fulham marking allowed Nathan Ake a free header, although the protests against the decision that an offside Manuel Akanji wasn't interfering in play will occupy minds at Fulham this week. It looked like a poor call.
Alvarez and Haaland combined again for the third, with the former's pass hitting Tim Ream and falling so invitingly for Haaland that it should have come in gift-wrap. He doesn't miss chances like that very often. He did miss a penalty last week, but made no mistake this time when Alvarez had been brought down when in on goal, then completed his hat-trick in stoppage time.
It was turning into the Alvarez and Haaland show, but Doku will take encouragement from his debut. He had a couple of lively moments, especially to win a corner early in the first half, but a wide player who is usually a dynamic, daring dribbler, showed he has what it takes to do what Guardiola wants of a winger as well.
The Catalan might not have been at the Etihad and Doku still hasn't trained under the City boss as he convalesces in Barcelona after back surgery, but Lillo had got the instructions across. After starting on the right, he received possession in front of the technical areas early in the game and turned back, keeping the ball rather than looking to take on his man and risking a turnover. Guardiola would have loved it.
Maybe at Rennes, he would have used his pace and his skill to try and find some of that space down the flank, but at City Guardiola wants his wingers to keep possession, especially early on and especially in areas of the pitch where they are unlikely to hurt the opposition. Save the fancy stuff for the final third and a tiring, unsuspecting defence.
Doku earned a round of applause for tracking Antonee Robinson all the way back to the byline after 20 minutes and was diligent defensively. The switch of wings with Foden got more out of Foden than it did the new boy, but this was a solid start.
There is certainly more to come from the 21-year-old. He is a winger with the ability to thrill and that won't be drilled out of him at the Eithad. But under Guardiola, this is a system-first enterprise and he certainly looked ready to slot into that on his opening day.
