City 4 - 1 Blackburn

• The fourth win out of four for Mancini and another good performance. For all but a very brief period we were as solid at the back as we have been for the rest of the Mancini era. Going forward we managed to score four and create more despite quiet afternoons from the wide players and having Benjani up front. Which is testimony really to the heroism of Carlos Tévez: scoring a hat-trick, unsettling defenders and creating chances for others. With eleven goals in his last eight starts it looks increasinly clear that if we achieve anything special this season - in the league or in either cup - it will be thanks to the talismanic qualities of Carlitos.

• It was a rather strange game. One of the biggest changes from Mark Hughes' management is his Mancini's willingness to put men behind the ball once we've gone ahead, even at home. This meant that we were happy to sit back and let Blackburn play, confident that they didn't have enough wit to break through our newly well-organised defence. This was fine until Vincent Kompany slipped and Morten Gamst Pedersen pulled one back. At which point, with us defending so deep, Blackburn threatened to seize momentum, typical City threatened to rear its head. The threat passed soon enough. But we are yet to face a real test, yet to play a good team. When we do, we might have a better sense of how serious contenders Roberto Mancini's Manchester City will be this season.

• Up until Pedersen's goal, this might have been our best defensive performance under Mancini. Vincent Kompany and Micah Richards were flawless, against admittedly very limited and predictable Blackburn attacks. It is certainly arguable that Kompany is currently in better form than anyone playing at centre-back has been for us so far this season. It is by no means sure that both, or even either, of Joleon Lescott and Kolo Touré will get back into the side. And if the latter fails to return, it will be fascinating to see if Patrick Vieira plays enough to become the new captain, or if Shay Given retains the armband.

• We were lucky to come up against opponents as poor as Blackburn. People say that Mancini has been lucky to play teams of the standard of Stoke City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Middlesbrough and now Blackburn Rovers. And it's true. But where Mancini has been really lucky has been to catch all four teams playing as badly as they have. Blackburn were error-prone in defence, lazy in midfield and witless up front. They threatened to come to life briefly in the second half, but did not live up to the promise. Goodison Park on Saturday will be a whole new order of things.
  

• As exciting as it is to be in the top four, it still matters less than our impending cup semi-final. I was hoping to learn more about what to expect from us that day. But I didn't. If anything Mancini rubbed out lessons previously taught, rather than show us more of his intentions. There were no defensive wide players, but Martin Petrov and Craig Bellamy. There was a big and small pairing up front, as was the style of Hughes. There was no obvious place for Patrick Vieira to come in. Much still remains unclear, and probably unknown even to him. But with four straight wins no one is complaining.