'I started earning my medals three years ago'

Vincent Kompany, Player of the Season-elect (why not), has been talking about his good so far this season. And he's characteristically modest and thoughtful:

"I am progressing - that is all it is. I think I have performed ever since I have been at City.

"I always think you can only be as good as your last game, so I have to do equally as well in my next match, or even better if possible. That is the attitude I have. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

"The team is getting better, and I am getting older and have more experience. I am willing to learn.

"I started earning my medals three years ago - I started performing three years ago, and I am still working. The hard work is what is showing now."

He's certainly right that he's been earning medals for three years. The fact that he was signed before the takeover but is one of the first names on the team-sheet now is a shining achievement in itself. Of the other players we signed that summer, Pablo Zabaleta and Shaun Wright-Phillips are on the fringes, Jô is somehow still in the set up and Robinho and Tal ben Haim are long gone.

(It's worth praising Mark Hughes here for spending £6million on a talented but injury-prone 22 year old. Had Stuart Pearce not signed Joe Hart for £600,000 it would be the single best piece of business by City over the last five years.)

Kolo Touré, who looks back to his best alongside Kompany, had this to say:

“We are happy with what we are doing and happy with the way we are defending as a team. There are still some mistakes we can avoid but Vincent Kompany and myself feel comfortable in the way we are gelling as a partnership.

“Vincent is a very intelligent footballer who is great to play alongside. We all know the importance of having a sound defence and the whole team is playing its part in that regard.”