Manchester City 3 Wigan Athletic 0:BY THE time Sergio Aguero left the scene of triumph he was clutching the match ball, signed by all his team-mates to mark his first Premier League hat-trick.
“You don’t need to speak English to score goals,” bore the scribble from Gael Clichy. “More of the same please Kun,” added Joleon Lescott. “You are decent,” Joe Hart offered. Aguero’s eyes sparkled when he was asked whether he wanted to become as important to Manchester City as his father-in-law, Diego Maradona, had once been to Napoli, their Champions League opponents on Wednesday. “I’m here to help the club develop and win titles,” he replied.
“So, yes, I hope so.” A tall order, perhaps, but the Argentinian has settled in like a man in a hurry. Roberto Mancini’s men have accumulated 15 goals in their first four games. Aguero has managed a third of them and City have such a plethora of attacking riches they can think nothing of resting a player, Edin Dzeko, who scored four in his previous match. Mario Balotelli has not started a single game. Carlos Tevez, a striker who thrives on being the biggest fish in every pond, is just another member of the shoal right now.
But this is the new-look City, very different from the club that previously gave the impression Tevez was as important to them as petrol to a car. David Silva makes you wonder whether there has ever been a more talented player to pull on that blue jersey. Mancini, once again, spoke of Aguero reminding him of Romario.
Mancini has been newly emboldened this season. It is a 4-2-4 formation for the most part, with the full-backs playing as auxiliary wingers and an attacking quartet that wear down their opponents from every angle. Wigan looked dizzy at times. It was a blur of fluid, pass-and-move football and, afterwards, a Neapolitan journalist asked Mancini if City were turning into the Barcelona of England. “Maybe,” he replied. Not yet, of course, and Mancini later added: “Hold on. We’ve only played together two months, this group. We have a new team and we need time.”
But City will continue to aim for the stars even if the chief tub-thumper, Garry Cook, has been sent to the guillotine. Mancini expressed grateful surprise that Barcelona or Real Madrid had never snapped up Silva from Valencia. “But not only him,” he added. “I think Madrid would like Silva, Aguero, Carlos, Yaya, James, all these players.” Typically, though, this hard-to-please Italian was not fully satisfied. Of their 26 efforts at goal, only seven were on target. Aguero’s second came at a time when Wigan were starting to think it might be their lucky day. It would, however, have been a travesty. Tevez’s scruffy penalty, saved by Ali al-Habsi, was not in keeping with the confidence that ran through the rest of the performance.
Roberto Martinez, the Wigan manager, spoke of his team playing as though expecting to be beaten – and it was an observation we may hear from many others in his position over the coming years. This is the sort of thing, historically, that opposition managers have said at Old Trafford or, going back a little further, Anfield. What he was saying, in effect, was very clear: my team were scared of coming here.
Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday may be more intrepid travellers. “We’re in the competition sooner than I thought,” Mancini said. “The club have bought good players and worked very hard and, for these reasons, we deserve to be where we are, but we still need to improve. We had 15 first-half chances, but only went in 1-0 up.”
Guardian Service
