3 reinvigorated City players star in victory over Monchengladbach

Manchester City strolled to a 4-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach to begin its 2016-17 European excursion on Wednesday.

The group-stage clash - rescheduled from 24 hours earlier due to a storm that spilled over Manchester - began with torrents of attacks from the host, with Sergio Aguero weathering the Bundesliga club with a two-yard tap-in and penalty conversion after impressive debutant Ilkay Gundogan was felled on the edge of the area.

After the break, Aguero wrapped up his second hat trick of the Champions League campaign after his exploits in the qualifier with Steaua Bucharest. Kelechi Iheanacho then added gloss to the tie thanks to a fine meandering run from substitute Leroy Sane.

Related - Watch: Aguero dances around Sommer to complete hat trick

While the likes of Gundogan, Nolito, and John Stones have impressed since joining Pep Guardiola's City revolution, and while Fernandinho and David Silva have flourished in tweaked roles, there are notable contributions from first-team personnel whose futures looked insecure after last season's oft-drab performances.

Here are three players who have hitherto prospered under the watch of Guardiola:

Raheem Sterling

Arguably the most successful turnaround in fortunes belongs to Raheem Sterling.

The youngster was unfairly victimised by prominent sections of the English media due to his hesitant performances on the flank at Euro 2016. His travails followed an inaugural City season in which he struggled to assimilate to Manuel Pellegrini's distant stance on the Etihad Campus training pitches.

Guardiola reportedly called Sterling during the European Championship finals in France, telling the former Liverpool man that he formed a significant part of his plans in Eastlands. Whether that's true or not, Sterling has since thrived.

With the exception of some intermittent wing-switching with Nolito, Sterling's role hasn't changed an awful lot under Guardiola's guidance. He appears to have finally shrugged off his £49-million price tag, though, showing a greater penchant in squirming his way through defences and arrowing the ball into the striding paths of his fellow attackers.

Nicolas Otamendi

A defender whose style would give more cultured performers in his position nightmares.

"If I have to make a tackle then I have already made a mistake." - A quote often attributed to AC Milan and Italy legend Paolo Maldini, who averaged 0.56 tackles a match, and a sentiment at odds with Nicolas Otamendi's approach.

The Argentinian defender's love of a full-bloodied tackle tended to put those packed into the Etihad Stadium on tenterhooks in his first season in English football - before kick-off he must've been pencilled into the referee's notebook.

He was also culpable for lapses in concentration - certainly contrasting to Maldini's work - but under Guardiola his composure at the back, along with that of Stones, has been a foundation in the early successes of the Spaniard's reign.

His passing from the back is a lot more thoughtful too. The speculative diagonal lofted balls to the wings - where the shortest players tend to be - have been shunted from his game, and he's instead releasing sliding and attack-instigating balls from the backline.

Aleksandar Kolarov

Aleksandar Kolarov topped many supporters' lists for the first to be jettisoned from City this summer. His attacking qualities, highlighted by a left foot like a traction engine and smart overlapping runs, are undoubted, but the Serbian was often caught out for a lack of positional awareness or a scarcity of desire in covering opposition attacks.

Then Guardiola deployed a player seemingly susceptible at the back alongside 22-year-old Stones, who endured some torrid form at Everton last term, for the Premier League opener against Sunderland.

While City fans won't be holding their breath that Kolarov is an entirely different player under the new gaffer, there's no doubting that the former Lazio man has been a calming presence when used at centre-half.

And in his familiar spot at left-back, where he was selected for Wednesday's visit of Monchengladbach, he has been more attentive with his deliveries: rather than simply whacking them vaguely across the 18-yard box, he unleashes ferocious yet accurate crosses.

This was certainly evident when assisting for Aguero's opener in the midweek tilt:

Seven consecutive victories to start the Guardiola era - an unprecedented record for a City manager - but it's not solely down to the wholesale changes that many predicted when he succeeded Pellegrini.