Post-Pep Premier League era begins with weekend of hyper-managed shock and awe | Barney Ronay

Possession numbers, the intense physicality and the pure rhythm of games all felt noticeably new as the season began

There has been something oddly narcotic and moreish about the drip-drip of fresh Pep Guardiola content either side of the start of the new Premier League season. Eras come and go. Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact. But four-part Amazon Prime documentaries make angels of us all.

So we have continued to feast on the Pep-at-City visuals: dead jeopardy, reheated beefs, the uplifting team talks of a departed manager to the departed players of a departed team, and moments that often feel far more gripping than the daily churn of what we must, out of habit, call the real world.