Manchester City spent years making football look inevitable under Pep Guardiola. Now, in the early days of the post-Guardiola era, they may need something different. They may need a little chaos.

Rayan Cherki provided plenty of it at Selhurst Park last night.

The Frenchman scored twice in a 4-1 demolition of Crystal Palace, but the goals only told part of the story. Cherki brought the unpredictability, imagination and sheer audacity that can turn a carefully constructed attack into something far more dangerous.

And that could make him one of the defining players of Manchester City’s new chapter.

The 23-year-old is not short of confidence. He is equally comfortable expressing frustration when things go wrong and arrogance when they go right.

After an underwhelming first half against Palace, Cherki gave a brutally honest assessment of his own performance in his live television interview, leaving Erling Haaland laughing beside him.

Then he went out and changed the game.

Nine minutes into the second half, he received Phil Foden’s pass on the edge of the area, wriggled through four Palace defenders and finished with his left foot.

It was not a goal created by a passing pattern or a perfectly rehearsed move. It was Cherki seeing a gap and deciding to attack it.

When Palace pulled one back, he did it again.

This time, a rising right-footed strike from 20 yards restored City’s two-goal advantage and effectively killed the contest.

That is the Cherki attraction.

City have no shortage of technically gifted footballers. What they have lacked at times is someone willing to ignore the script.

Cherki does.

Jamie Redknapp called him a "genius" and highlighted the "X-factor" he brings. The comparison with Eden Hazard was telling. There are players who make a team function better, and then there are players who make defenders panic.

Cherki belongs to the latter category.

Maresca was particularly impressed with Cherki's contribution without the ball, praising his pressing and his ability to contain Palace midfielder Adam Wharton.

That is significant because Cherki's talent has never been the question. His consistency and discipline have been.

At City, particularly with a new manager trying to establish his own identity, brilliance alone will not guarantee a place.

Cherki appears to understand that.

He came off the bench against Bournemouth on the opening weekend and supplied two assists in a 2-1 comeback win. Given a starting role against Palace, he responded with two goals.

Four goal contributions in his first two league appearances is quite a way to make a case.

It also changes the conversation around a player who spent much of last season waiting for his opportunity. Cherki made 33 Premier League appearances in his first City campaign, but 14 came from the bench.

Now he looks determined not to be an impact substitute.

And that matters beyond Cherki himself.

Maresca inherited an extraordinary squad, but he did not inherit a blank canvas. The temptation after Guardiola's departure would have been to search for a replacement who could reproduce the same football.

That would be the wrong approach.

City cannot become Guardiola's City without Guardiola. They can, however, become something else. Cherki may be part of that something.

His emotional volatility, expressive style and willingness to take risks are not necessarily problems to be eliminated. In the right structure, they can become weapons.

Maresca's job is to give Cherki enough freedom to be Cherki without allowing the team to lose its shape.

If he gets that balance right, City could have found more than another talented attacker.