There are few things that Sam Allardyce likes more than explaining how he outwitted a highbrow foreign manager. His account of West Ham’s toppling of the champions here will not make enjoyable listening for Manuel Pellegrini.
Allardyce praised every aspect of his team’s play but revealed that they set out to exploit Eliaquim Mangala, in particular, on the basis that the defender Manchester City signed from Porto for £32m in the summer is not being properly supported as he tries to adapt to the Premier League.
Mangala was caught flat-footed for West Ham’s opening goal at Upton Park, when Alex Song dissected the visiting defence with an astute pass between the centre-back and Gaël Clichy, allowing Enner Valencia to dart through and cross for Morgan Amalfitano to score. Throughout the contest Mangala struggled to contain Valencia and Diafra Sakho, the striker who played in an unfamiliar role wide on the right, from where he tormented Mangala and Clichy before scoring West Ham’s second goal.
“I think they leave him exposed,” said Allardyce of Mangala. “He’s only just joined the Premier League. They don’t protect him – and he’s only just got here – [then] the more and more you can get down the side of him, with the space that Clichy leaves. [Vincent] Kompany is used to it, he’s been at this level for such a long time. This lad’s not, he’s finding his feet and, like I said, we made big strides down that left-hand side and we caused them lots of problems.”
Mangala was imperious in his Premier League debut at home against Chelsea in September but he has been less convincing since then, notably in the 4-2 win at Hull and here at Upon Park. Allardyce reckons teams will continue to take advantage, especially on the road, if City do not adapt. “We all know that Manchester City play a certain way,’ said Allardyce. “They come away from home expecting to win and go and attack you. We’ve seen a lot this season how those spaces they leave can be exploited by other teams. We exploited them brilliantly.”
Mangala’s teething troubles are reminiscent of those endured last season by City’s Martín Demichelis, who seemed ill at ease in his first couple of months in English football but gradually improved to demonstrate what an accomplished defender he really is. Pellegrini no doubt hopes Mangala will get to grips with the Premier League in the same way and the Frenchman would appear better equipped to do so than Demichelis, being blessed with greater speed and strength.
Pellegrini refused to comment on Mangala’s display against West Ham, though he did admit that City need to tighten up their rearguard. He says they are defending better now than they were at the same stage last season, when they were only seventh in the table and, as now, were in choppy waters in the Champions League. “I don’t analyse individual performances with the press, I do it with the players in private,” said Pellegrini. “In the first part of last season, the first six games we played [away] we lost four. Aston Villa scored three goals, Cardiff scored three goals and, at this moment, we are defending better than at that moment. But I think we must improve because we are conceding in this [type of] game one or two goals, which I think is too much.”
Despite City’s defensive vulnerability, they would have won this match if they had taken a decent proportion of the chances that they created. David Silva scored a wonderful goal but Sergio Agüero was foiled several times by West Ham’s inspired goalkepeer, Adrián, and also struck one shot against the crossbar, as did Yaya Touré. Nevertheless, few observers would begrudge West Ham their victory, a fitting reward for an exhilarating performance in which all of the club’s summer signings suggested that they, at least, have had no trouble adapting to the Premier League.
Allardyce is aware that the season is young and the new arrivals may still experience a sort of culture shock, particularly during the taxing festive period. For that reason he is not yet ready to declare that his team can hold on to their place in the top four.
“We are on a big high at the moment, that’s a fantastic feeling, but we still have the difficult time ahead – it will be end of November and December when all the games come flooding thick and fast,” said Allardyce. “All the new players, particularly the ones we brought from abroad, will they fatigue or won’t they? We are absolutely delighted they have all hit the ground running but they have never experienced this level of physicality. They could easily fall into December finding life extremely difficult. The rest of the squad may have to dip in then and help them out while we give them a rest. Hopefully it is not the case, but I have to be wary of that.”
Already Allardyce has a concern about Sakho, the Senegalese striker who has been a spectacular success since joining in the summer from the French second-division side, Metz. Sakho has scored in all seven of the matches that he has started since then but he did not finish against City, after being forced off towards the end with a shoulder injury that will be assessed this week.
Man of the match Alex Song (West Ham United)
