Manchester City’s New Coherency

Black boots, black hair. As Manchester City stumbled between convincing and pedestrian against Swansea City, Sergio Aguero cut through the malaise with two goals and an assist. It was an instant impact for a player billed as Carlos Tevez’s replacement, but there should be more to come.

At one point during tonight’s match, Manchester City’s lineup contained Gael Clichy, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Aguero. The significance of it? City’s new coherency: Clichy comes from Arsenal, Toure from Barcelona, Silva from Spain and Aguero has spent most of his career there. Watching them dismantle Swansea in the second half, the connection was more than notional; the passes were swift and the movement, impressive.

With the promise of Samir Nasri still to come, on the basis of tonight, City are developing something like an ideology – quick, dynamic passers are the order of the day. In the 30 minutes Aguero spent on the pitch, the new thinking looked as convincing as anything on show last season: three goals in that time made Swansea look far worse than they really deserved.

Aguero, the catalyst, represents more than just the change in thinking on the pitch. Consider the man he is replacing: when Tevez arrived at the club things were different. The second superstar on the scene after Robinho, he was signed from Manchester United as much to torment Alex Ferguson as he was for his excellence on the pitch. Tevez, like most of the players City were signing at that time – Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Jolean Lescott – was demonstration of wealth first and a football player second. Aguero, on the significant other hand, is a direct, sensible replacement for his fellow Argentine.

City 4, Swansea 0. A sensible, coherent City could well be a more serious threat to Manchester United than the Charity Shield made out.