Former Pompey striker Benjani gave his former Fratton Park team mates a torrid afternoon and rounded off possibly his best performance in a City shirt with the final goal in the 3-1 win.
Of his £3.87m January signing, Sven said: “I think he was brilliant – as were the rest of the team.
“But talking about Benjani, I was very happy with the work he did defensively, all the runs into the channels and the way he kept the ball.
“So I was very happy for him when he scored the goal because he could have scored three maybe.”
With the goals for department taken care of, Sven could have been forgiven for worrying about a few goals against, particularly taking the form of Jermain Defoe into account.
And as Sun Jihai pulled out on the morning of the game, many fans would have been left scratching their heads with the sight of Elano taking his place at right back prior to kick-off, but the boss explained: “The reason was before the match we had eight players out with injuries or sickness.
“Four of them were defenders and altogether in the whole squad we have seven defenders.
“So we had to pick someone to do the job and, believe it or not Elano, when he played club football in Brazil he was a right back.
“Also in the Copa America against Chile for Brazil he played at right back – so he has done it before and I think he showed that he could do the job.
“Of course if you expect a Micah Richards there, no, but the positions he took were good, he won some headers and when he got the ball, the quality was brilliant.”
Someone else who made an impression on the Manager (and the opposition) was Sam Williamson on his first ever senior appearance.
The Academy Graduate replaced the hamstrung Richard Dunne on 54 minutes and it didn’t take him long to pick up a first Premier League booking for a slightly late tackle.
Sven added: “It was very good for Sam and I think he was very surprised and happy when we told him he would be coming with the first team.
“He did very well too and he showed who was the boss straight away.
“So not only did we start with four defenders out we ended the match with five defenders injured.”
And the Manager now has a decision to make regarding whether to bring Shaleum Logan back from Stockport County to ease the defensive crisis.
He said: “Probably we will take Shaleum Logan back from his loan spell because we don’t know if Dunne can play next weekend.
“Micah Richards probably won’t play, Onuoha – definitely not, Garrido – probably not.”
And mcfc.co.uk will have an update from Sven-Goran Eriksson on Richard Dunne’s injury situation and whether Shaleum Logan is back with the Club tomorrow.
