In sport one of the signs of a great player or a great team is that they bounce back from adversity, in Manchester City's case they look to be well on their way to doing just that. City who were last seasons English Premier League champions, also won the league cup as Manuel Pellegrini enjoyed a debut season in the premier league.
This season sadly the Blues haven't been able to reach the heights of last season so far - a bit premature you might think to make such a judgement but with the amount of points dropped at home at this stage of the season being the same amount of points which were dropped all of last season, then I am sure you can see the point that I am trying to make.
Poor performances in Europe and an early league cup exit have been very unhelpful to say the least. Yaya Toure and David Silva have been injured or severely out of form - but it isn't all bad though for the Citizens. Sergio Aguerro has been nothing short of sensational this season, the little Argentine has at times carried his team over the line, the game against Bayern Munich in Europe was a prime example of that. In that game Aguerro scored a hat-trick which ultimately helped his side overcome the Bundesliga champions.
In the 'midst' of a bad season City have won the derby against Manchester United ( I am sure many fans would have taken that at the start of the year). Chelsea have so far been this years team to beat - and even they haven't beaten City, so it's not all that bad surely.
Manchester City last year weren't in a dissimilar position to this position to what they are now (points wise) but as is the way with the media, we love a bit of sensationalism. Defending champions went to St Mary's on Sunday, many saw this game as one where Manchester City could lose more ground on Chelsea. The game between City and Southampton saw the best striker in the league (Manchester City's Sergio Aguerro) and the best defence (Southampton's defence) .
I expected this to be the weekend where the defending champions would lose more ground on Chelsea- but that wasn't the case. City put in a very professional performance and won the game 3-0 despite being reduced to 10 men for the last 11 minutes or so.
After a tricky start for City I feel they are getting into a position where they want to be, I am not saying they are back to their best - tougher challenges lie ahead at places like Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford for example - but they have definitely taken the steps in the right direction. Manuel Pellegrini couldn't have hoped for a better week, a win against Bayern Munich, Southampton and seeing Chelsea drop points - Pellegrini can't ask for much more. Crisis what crisis?
