Ridiculed and labelled by some as a complete waste of money last season, Josh Donaldson believes centre-back Eliaquim Mangala is slowly turning City fans’ opinions around.
The win did not come out of the blue for Manchester City, but the performance in their 3-0 win against reigning Premier League champions Chelsea was more of a shock.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini called it the “complete performance” and simply put, it was. Sergio Aguero was on fire, the pace of Raheem Sterling blitzed Branislav Ivanovic and David Silva pulled all the strings.
But more surprising was there solid defensive work that snuffed out Diego Costa, Eden Hazard et al. To such an extent that their first shot on target didn’t arrive until the 70th minute.
One part of this stubborn City rear-guard was Eliaquim Mangala. A player who looked destined to be a flop and leave the club this summer. It is still rumoured he could be leaving on loan to Valencia with Nicolas Otamendi going the other way – but not so fast Manuel.
Mangala and Vincent Kompany were pivotal at the back on Sunday, hassling and harrying Costa, marking him out of the game. It is also there second clean sheet in two so far this season. It looks like a partnership starting to find his feet.
The Frenchman struggled to adapt to the Premier League last season, he was off the pace, made many mistakes and became a scapegoat in an unremarkable season for the Citizens.
A part of his failings could be down to the fact that he didn’t get a consistent run alongside the City captain last season. The biggest run in the team together was just four games. Kompany struggled with injury last term and looked a shadow of his former self when he did play. But he has returned galvanised, back to his athletic self and back amongst the goals, two in two for the Belgian.
Not only are they starting together at this season, which will only help Mangala improve; they had a stable pre-season able to look at ways to compliment each other. With Martin Demichellis off on international duty at the Copa America over the summer, they were able to gain a connection that is crucial for centre backs. And as Demichellis came back later than the rest of the squad, expect Mangala to stay in the team for some time to come. At the moment he is undroppable.
Of course, Mangala will hit some bumps along the way. It is naïve to jump to many conclusions at this early stage of the season, and at some point he will get a much tougher test.
It probably won’t be long to wait for that examination either as Man City head to Goodison Park next Saturday lunchtime. Romelu Lukaku, off the back of a brace down on the south coast against Southampton, will be squaring up against him.
He was too powerful for the Saints centre halves on the weekend and looked unplayable at times. He will test every facet of Mangala’s game and if he comes through it relatively unscathed we could well be seeing the delayed rise of the Frenchman.
Whisper it very, very quietly though.
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