Pat Nevin feels there is a lot of "uncertainty" around Pep Guardiola's Manchester City as his players get used to a far more complex approach.
City edged Sunderland 2-1 thanks to a late own goal to give Guardiola a win in his first competitive match.
The big take-away from the game was how the former Barcelona boss deployed his full-backs in inverted and very central roles, which was something he had done at Bayern Munich from time to time.
But Pat believes it will take time for the players to truly become seamlessly accustomed to the demands of the manager.
"He's still learning what the capabilities of these players has and yes he is a fabulous coach. But you know what? He's not an all-knowing God yet. He has to learn the capabilities of these players and some of them will be asked to do specific jobs that they are not used to in training games and that's fine. But you still don't know if it's going to work by the time you get to the Premier League and by the time you get to the Champions League," Pat said on Off The Ball as he spoke to co-presenter Kevin Kilbane.
"I still think there's an uncertainty about Pep Guardiola and what he's going to ask these players to do because it's complex, because it's different to what they're used to being asked to do. To try and learn all these new things, new systems, new attitudes towards where they will be with each other and then win the league at the same time, that's a a big call."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.