Manchester City chairman Thaksin Shinwatra admits he's been amazed at how manager Sven Goran Eriksson has been able to gel his new-look team so quickly.

Speaking to the Premier League World TV programme, Thaksin said: "What surprised me was how Sven was able to bring players from many different places together as a team, to get them playing as a team so quickly and to keep them in a winning run of form. From the beginning we planned to be better than last year, but I never thought that we would be this good.

"I believe in Sven's ability, the success we have had so far is due to him and he will help bring more of it along as well.

"There are several players I like, however the one that has impressed me the most and that I know personally is Elano. I told him at the start of the season that we wanted nine points from the first three games as a way of creating a good impression for the fans, and he told me, 'That's what I am here for', which told me that he is here to win."