City’s defeat to Sunderland on Boxing Day was a dispiriting affair for citizens of the Tiger Nation, but there was a few noteworthy occurrences for those of us who take polyester attire far too seriously, and we’re not talking about the Mackem’s near-neon third kit which made them look like stewards, dockworkers and railway track inspectors, nor the gilet Jude Bellingham wore in the stands as he watched his brother.

First up, Ozan Tufan’s shirt tore right where the Kappa logo is on the chest. Making shirt pulling hugely obvious was always a design feature of the Kappa Kombat shirts which feature more elastane than most football shirts, but leaving lasting evidence probably wasn’t part of the plan.

Secondly, both Jason Lokilo and Regan Slater wore shirts that had the QR code appliqué that is used on the replica shirts, but typically not on the player spec pro shirts. We speculated on Twittex that they might have been using replicas, but helpfully kitman John Eyre set us straight: “it is a player issue shirt that is sold in the club shop, I have run out of my size small stock.”

We didn’t know the player spec shirts in Tiger Leisure carried the QR code, but now we do, and so do you. Match images show Lokilo in the grasp of a Sunderland player, highlighting the telltale white sheen of stretched elastane, which shows the shirt was definitely a Kappa Kombat pro model and not an off the peg replica, as the shirts meant for general retail sale are more rigid and structured than the stretchy player issue stock.