If you watched the City – Newcastle game last night, you would be entitled to suggest the start of a three-way race for the title including Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea.
The thrilling performance on the pitch was made possible through a positive response to Pellegrini’s liberal approach and City’s attitude to play with purpose. Of course, granted the fact that he has had a history of immediately getting attackers to gel with each other.
On their home debuts, all three imports did phenomenally well. Most notably was Fernandinho’s role as he bossed the midfield like no other. Quick accurate passes (90% completed) and nifty combinations with Yaya Toure & David Silva were just pleasing to the eye. Much more gratifying than what we had seen when Javi Garcia or Gareth Barry was fielded in similar position last year.
There is no doubt that the fans enjoyed this new-look city team, and it looked like the players enjoyed doing what they do best too. One moment of the game even saw a graceful piece of defending by Joleon Lescott to dispossess Hatem Ben Arfa – something that was missing from the England international for a long time.
This was just the first test for Manuel Pellegrini in his attempt to bring glory to Manchester City. As consistency had been the primary issue leading to City’s demise last season, the world will be watching Pellegrini very closely critiquing every move that he makes as the season carries on.
