The mauling at Everton changed everything.
I remember watching that one in a bar where I was on my own. As I recall, we had a lot of the game but never really looked like scoring, while they banged in four despite their limited possession.
The next week, we played Spurs at home and Pep sprung a surprise with his team selection. He opted to line up with David Silva and KDB in central midfield, and, like many other Blues I saw on social media, I thought he was out of his mind. Surely we'd be overrun? Shows what I know.
We drew 2-2 that day but outplayed Spurs and the result was a bit of a travesty. If we'd been awarded a blatant penalty when some lad called Walker (what happened to him, I wonder?) fouled Sterling, we'd have won. Even if we'd missed from the spot, the away side would have been deprived of the opportunity they took to break immediately and score at the other end.
We'd actually started that first season under Pep superbly before our form dropped off, so I can't say the Spurs game was the first time we properly saw Pep's vision in action. But it was the first occasion on which we saw that superb midfield pairing that underpinned so many of our earlier successes under his management. What a privilege that was.