Oliver Glasner would have cashed out if he could.
The plan could hardly have gone better but the initiative had been lost, and the momentum suddenly belonged to Manchester City.
He tweaked and tinkered, trying to reinforce midfield to regain control at the expense of Jean-Philippe Mateta and later conceded it had been a mistake because Crystal Palace never looked like reversing the City spree without an outlet up front.
And so, having led 2-0, they conceded five in 46 minutes, starting with the goal by Kevin De Bruyne from a free-kick awarded for a particularly silly tackle by Daichi Kamada.