City 3 -1 Villa; Hansen's joyless life and the re-birth of Patrick Vieira

I got back from the game last night and thought, considering the result, I'd watch Match of the Day. Only for Alan Hansen, with a mischievous grin, to declare "Villa were the better team." But don't worry, he 'treated' us to some video evidence: Collins and Dunne shuffling back and forth in tandem and some mean ten-men behind the ball pressurising. Excellent. Villa stifled well.

In some ways I feel sorry for Hansen. If a player scores a 40-yard screamer, he will react with "eee... terrible defending. If this player here [circles player] got to him quicker, then we'd all have been spared this goal." You could imagine him playing Subbuteo with his son and rearranging the game so that it is impossible to score.

Despite Hansen's words, I thought City thoroughly deserved the win. Although perhaps it is just bitterness over the demise of his beloved Liverpool.

The only worry from the first-half - this held up by their highlight package - was that Villa had three very good chances: the goal itself, Carew's shot against the bar, and Downing's drive that whistled just past the post. The goal was against the run of play and the others were the products of fairly isolated attacks from Villa. All the same, it was a concern. Villa are a very good team known for their prowess on the counter attack, so for all City's pressing, there was always going to be some danger.

I was delighted, however, with how City approached the game. This was perhaps our first game against the top-eight under Mancini (with perhaps the derby as an exception) where we set up to attack rather than contain (in Mancini's defence, in some of the earlier games he was restricted by the personnel he had to choose from). Whilst Villa sat back, primed for the counter-attack, all of City's attack asked questions of their defence - and I thought it was only a matter of time before City turned the pressure into an advantage, when Carew scored their breakaway goal.

Fulop - under perhaps the biggest spotlight of his career - looked nervous in the first half, but in the second half we were treated to a goalkeeper who is comfortable on crosses and who even likes to take the simple option and roll the ball out to feet. The weighty finger of blame may fall somewhere between him and Toure for the Carew goal, but both players made amends with solid displays after that.

Although there will always be a group of deluded people who expect Vieira to be the player who left Arsenal for Juventus, I thought he was exceptional today. For some he has already done enough to blind them against his good performances: when James Collins desperately sprawled across the floor to intercept an almost perfect through-ball for Adebayor by Vieira, the woman behind me screeched "get him off!" You can't please them all.

It's not a popular line to take but I think we play better with Vieira in the team - only because he is the only central midfield option we have (Ireland doesn't work in central midfield) that can pick a quick pass. Barry can, but he needs the time. Vieira was excellent at sitting in front of the back four, breaking up play, and releasing the forwards with his intelligent passing game. Yes, he doesn't have the legs anymore, but our midfield lacks a passer without him.

It was an excellent result against a Villa team on a good run of form, but the result doesn't change too much - we still need to win our next two games. The pressure will be immense, but this result, and the fans backing, should put us in a good position for Wednesday night. I'm feeling a bit nervous just thinking about it.