MAN CITY 1 WOLVERHAMPTON 0

THERE were moments during Carlos Tevez's debut when you asked yourself if Manchester City had paid £25million for a world-class footballer or comedy's greatest warm-up man?

Sure, he's got the flair and bundles of energy which may inspire a title challenge.

But listening to the City faithful chortle their way through the Argentine's first 73 minutes in blue, they have secured something of greater value: The opportunity to publicly ridicule Sir Alex Ferguson every week for the entirety of Tevez's Eastlands career.

"Fergie, Fergie, sign him up," laughed the City fans, his every touch applauded like an incessant slap in the Manchester United manager's face.

"What a waste of money," they added after the striker perfectly teed up partner Emmanuel Adebayor for City's winner, his second in two games.

Carlos provided the inspiration with his skills and the supporters duly pounced with their punchlines.

The one-liners will keep on coming if the South American wields as much influence here as he did across the city.

Each ovation for Tevez's contribution appeared to be succeeded by a muffled laughter as the chants followed and the faithful basked in their absolute conviction that Sir Alex has made the biggest gaffe of his career.

Even Tevez's shirt number seemed meticulously selected to extract maximum mirth at the expense of his former employees. One presumes the No 32, the same he wore at Old Trafford, didn't come out of the lucky bag.

The slapstick made for a strangely triumphant atmosphere although, by the end, familiar anxieties reared their head against a diligent but toothless Wolves. Fergie described City's banter as 'classless' over the summer but only the envious will deny these fans the moments of intoxicated euphoria they experienced during a first half of scintillating football.

The nervousness of the final stages are a reminder as to why the downtrodden City faithful are entitled to milk their lottery win while they can. This is a club still getting to grips with the enormity of the opportunity which presents itself.

If they are to emerge as a football as well as an economic power, the time will come when they will have to preoccupy themselves less on mocking their neighbours and more on forging their own sense of identity.

For now, there's more gratitude than conviction about what can be achieved with such endless possibilities.

"Manchester thanks you, Sheikh Mansour," read the most prominent banner in the arena.

Nervous victories over Wolves and Blackburn hardly represent evidence of a potentially seismic shift in power yet. But the sight of Tevez in his pristine sky blue, ably assisted by the reborn Adebayor, twinkle-toed Robinho and elegant Gareth Barry has already ensured more formidable clubs are worried.

As an attacking force, there is much to admire. The game would have been over long before a late Wolves rally had a series of easy chances been taken. The decisive moment arrived on 17 minutes.

Tevez delicately weighted a first-time pass to Adebayor who dispatched it before anyone could argue about the whereabouts of the linesman's flag. Replays proved it was legal.

Chances flowed afterwards. Tevez headed off target from six yards, Adebayor somehow missed after dribbling around keeper Wayne Hennessey and Stephen Ireland chipped woefully wide.

Robinho also had a well-worked goal chalked off for offside.

Mark Hughes had reason to curse the missed chances because defensively he still has questions. He hopes the merciful end to the Joleon Lescott saga may provide the answer.

Lescott is a stringent examination of his right knee away from starting his partnership with Kolo Toure, and he'll be needed to sure up a suspect backline.

Mick McCarthy's Wolves made the hosts sweat as his side ended the strongest.

The closest they came to stealing a point was Andrew Keogh's volley against the bar after Toure's indecisive clearance.

Keogh also missed a close-range header but the visitors could take encouragement.

With his chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarek watching on, it probably did Hughes' men no harm to prove the imbalance in the side remains.

Few teams will leave Eastlands without a thorough defensive test but, equally, there will be strikers relishing the wide open spaces they leave behind. It's nothing another £100m on recruitment won't solve.

For entertainment, it's hard to imagine there will be a more attractive venue than this, although we will need to see far more before declaring the City fans' good humour will last.

Let's not forget United fans have a few one-liners of their own up their sleeve if Tevez doesn't succeed.

Most notably, that £25m represents the most expensive taxi fare in history from one end of Manchester to the other.

We'll know over the course of the next eight months who's laughing last and longest.

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