Mangala: Now you’ll see my best

ELIAQUIM MANGALA has promised that Manchester City will see the best of him this season after struggling with the mental and physical demands of the Premier League after his £32million move to the Etihad a year ago. It made Mangala the most expensive defender in English football history, but at times the 24-year-old Frenchman disappointed alongside Vincent Kompany or Martin Demichelis in central defence. City’s decision to hand Belgium defender Jason Denayer a new long-term deal and gossip linking them with Mangala’s former Porto partner Nicolas Otamendi at Valencia are reminders that his first-team place is far from guaranteed. But Mangala insisted: ‘I’m very confident for the season. City have a lot of players at centre back and everybody wants to play. That’s normal. We are a big team with very good and important players. ‘Now I know my team-mates, the system and how we play, it’s easier for me to play like that. I’m used to it now. ’ Mangala blames his late arrival from Porto in mid-August for his teething problems. In only his second league game he scored an own goal and conceded a penalty at Hull, but grew stronger as the season wore on. He added: ‘I didn’t have a pre-season. English football is different. You’re not used to it. ‘For defenders, you have to know that the striker will never give up. He presses you for 90 minutes and more, and that’s different. ‘In England you don’t have time to control the ball. And then when you are one-on-one with the striker sometimes the referee lets play go on when you think it’s a foul. You need to be ready physically and mentally for 90 minutes. ‘And that’s against every team. In other countries you win against the bottom teams, you can rest a little bit, but in the Premier League, that’s not possible.’