Mangala vows to improve on debut campaign

Eliaquim Mangala has vowed to put his shaky first season behind him and become a defensive rock for Manchester City in 2015-16.

Mangala took time to adjust to life in the Premier League after his big-money move from Porto in 2014, the France international struggling to adapt his game to the pace of England’s top flight.

Slowly Mangala began to show signs of the form that convinced City to splash the cash on him and he hopes to build on those better performances towards the end of the campaign.

“I am focused on the season ahead and I want to play my part to the full,” he told the club’s official website. “I know I need to improve and show my best game every time I play and that’s what I intend to do.

“I need to find my match sharpness, which is normal for all of us at this stage of the season.”

City open their league season against West Brom on Monday, and Mangala says Manuel Pellegrini’s squad are determined to start well as they look to win back the title from Chelsea.

He added: “We are in the final week of our preparations and, with a game coming up on Monday, we know we need to work hard on the training pitch and get our tactics spot-on as well as every other aspect of our game.

“For a club like Manchester City, it’s not good enough to end up empty-handed – we want to win the title and other trophies and go as far as we can in the Champions League and that’s the mentality we have at the club.

“Everything is focused on our first game against West Brom and, by Monday, we’ll be ready and focused.”