Just a good start, or something more?

Last night City beat West Brom 3-0 and already some of the papers are jumping to conclusions about the where the title may go. It's far too early for that but what can we learn from the first competitive game of the season?

Firstly last night was a combination of a very good City and a very poor West Brom. Tony Pulis teams have always approached games against the top teams in the same way. Keep it tight, try and nick something and it it goes wrong don't bother chasing the game. This is a very pragmatic approach and, by not chasing the game, looks at the longer view that it is better for his team to lose 2-0 than risk losing 4 or 5-0 and the damage that would do to a teams confidence. Last night, though, West Brom appeared caught between two thoughts on how to approach the game. The team selection included 2 strikers suggesting they would be more attacking, but then during the game they sat back in the usual way a Pulis team does against the big teams. But the team selection meant they were a man light in midfield which made it much easier for City to move the ball around. Pulis has admitted he got it wrong tactically.

Having said that, City still needed to beat them and they did this superbly. The passing was at times brilliant and they frequently carved West Brom open. A few thoughts on City's performance:

• David Silva is a joy to watch. When he gets plenty of possession and time to use it he can pick apart any defence, as he did last night.
• Yaya Toure was back to his marauding best going forward. But he had almost nothing to do defensively. It is that side of his game that was questioned last season.
• The easiest way to improve last season's team was through one thing - corners. Last season City's corners were dreadful, so to score from one in the first game is a promising sign. Has anything changed? I wasn't paying close enough attention for most of the game but for Kompany's goal I did notice his run started much further out than I remember from last year. Hopefully this is a sign they have been worked on.
• Still the most frustrating player is Jesus Navas. His reluctance to run at and take on the full back is puzzling. He has the pace to get past the defender but seems to not want to use it. Why not? He should be so much better.

Apart from the above, I think it's difficult to say much as West Brom made it far too easy for us going forward and offered so little in attack it's difficult to say anything about our defence. Harder tests await, beginning next week, when we will learn a lot more about the team.