Analysing Sergio Aguero's Early-Season Form for Manchester City

Manchester City supporters (including your humble correspondent) have an awful time trying to be objective about Sergio Aguero.

If Aguero never scores another goal for City, the Argentine will live on in sky blue hearts forever. Scoring this goal will do that for a fellow.

Potting that goal to deliver City's first title in 44 years would have been more than enough. But to wrest the title from Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson's cabernet-stained clutches, well, that was Shakespearean.

So any time Aguero's name comes up among City supporters, even when he is in a poor run of form, the critiques are never as harsh as the ones for, say, Yaya Toure or (ahem) Edin Dzeko.

But when Aguero is running hot like he is right now, City faithful just cannot get out of their own way in their rushes to heap praise upon Kun.

Therefore, the wisest course here is to rely on the two most objective sources available to put Aguero's early-season form into perspective. Disinterested observers and statistics are the safest path.

You do not need a doctorate in quantum physics or even mathematics to know that there are 90 minutes (plus stoppage time) in every Premier League match. It is also more than plain that 90 is more than 88. So a goal per 88 minutes is pretty good, right?

This might be a good time to note that Aguero has never been one to spend a lot of time on the pitch between goals.

Hm. So Aguero is scoring this season at a rate faster than the record rate in Premier League history, a rate he himself established? That is useful.

Maybe Aguero is just a flat-track bully, though. The Premier League is full of players who dominate play in front of their home supporters only to run around aimlessly and spinelessly when they take the pitch at a hostile ground.

Well, this is getting awkward. Everywhere we look there is more evidence of Aguero's ridiculous goal-scoring prowess and the consistency with which he is lighting up scoreboards.

Perhaps we should check out how City are doing in the Champions League.

Apparently the Sky Blues have only one goal in their first two Champions League qualifying matches in Group E. That is not a great rate of return. Who scored their only goal?

All right, that does it. Aguero is tied for second in the Premier League in goals despite playing less than half of each of City's first two league matches. He has scored in each of City's last three matches. If not for Aguero, City might well be dead and buried in Champions League Group E instead of merely on life support.

From the start I conceded an inability to be objective about Aguero. As good as he has been this season, though, there really is no need to be.