One of Pep Guardiola's favourite phrases is 'it is what it is.' He never looks for excuses and accepts the up-and-down nature of football. He's been around enough to see everything and knows that there aren't the incredible highs without some lows around the corner.

But he must be wondering what Manchester City have done wrong as the luck continues to find new ways of deserting his side and making life difficult.

Saturday's FA Cup clash at Leyton Orient probably summed up the luckless run City have been on, with new £50m signing Nico Gonzalez lasting just 20 minutes on his debut before going off injured.

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"I was thinking 'of course, a shot from the halfway line after we created so many chances went in,' bemoaned Rico Lewis at full-time with a rueful smile.

Gonzalez was signed on deadline day to Guardiola's relief to bolster the defensive midfield area that has been depleted this season thanks to Rodri's injury. The Spaniard was signed for the long term, Guardiola said, and is not a direct Rodri replacement.

Before his debut, Guardiola talked up Gonzalez's ability to plug a gap at number six and then move further forward when his compatriot returns.

At Brisbane Road, Gonzalez looked like Rodri, patrolling the base of midfield, playing passes from side to side and occasionally over the top when the press could be broken. Without any standout moments, he looked solid and able to fit into a Guardiola system if given some time to adapt.

But then he was caught on the ball by three red shirts, with one of them - Jamie Donley - advancing to clip a sensational ball over Stefan Ortega from 45 yards.

If VAR was in use in East London, the goal would probably have been ruled out for a foul on Gonzalez. But it wasn't. Maybe the ball would have bounced off the bar and to safety on another day, but instead it dropped down and off Ortega and into the goal.

And then Gonzalez went down and couldn't continue, holding his hip and limping heavily. The £50m arrival Guardiola has been waiting for all season, injured already. "It’s a pity; I don’t know how hard the kick was, but he could not continue," Guardiola said after the game.

Guardiola referenced the refereeing when discussing Gonzalez's injury, and he gave an X-Rated touchline response to a clear penalty shout that went against his side in the second half. He later described that as a 'clear penalty.'

This is no longer a case of 'it is what it is'. It's a season where everything that can go against City does go against City. Lewis spoke of a squad reset at the start of this week to treat Orient as the first game of a new season and go from there. No wonder.

The obvious counter is that every club suffers from injuries but not every club can go and spend £180m on reinforcements midway through the campaign. City should have had enough to blow Orient away earlier than they did so cannot fall back on any excuse for their struggles.

All of a sudden that luck returned as Lewis' shot deflected in off Abdukodir Khusanov, a man who knows plenty about luck in his short City career so far. Yet this was still an under-par afternoon for City when few did much to force their way into Guardiola's plans against Real Madrid who will hardly be concerned as they scout the Blues.

And if Guardiola dared to get his hopes up that his options were looking brighter with Gonzalez's arrival, they were quickly dashed as the FA Cup dealt City a painful reminder: whatever you have done, and however much you spend, you still have to earn your luck.

City did that just about in the second half. Now they will cross their fingers for good news on Gonzalez - their 'new season' could depend on it.