Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson is excited by the young talent he has at his disposal.

City lined up with 19-year-old Michael Johnson and 34-year-old Dietmar Hamann in the centre against Aston Villa on Sunday and the pairing worked superbly, with Johnson scoring the only goal in the 48th minute.

Eriksson admitted he had never seen Johnson play live before his appointment as manager this summer and has been equally surprised by Hamann's energy.

But the two, along with Brazilian playmaker Elano, have slotted together nicely and Eriksson believes Johnson could not wish for a better player to learn from than Hamann.

"I'm positively surprised about Hamann, he seems to be younger and younger," the former England boss said.

"You would think in the second half the legs won't work any more but he is getting better and better in every game.

"We are very happy as long as he can run for us, because his football brain is much, much more than normal, and the experience he has is incredible.

"Elano started well but became better and better, and the way we scored against Villa was a little bit a photocopy of the goal we scored against Derby."