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.”
BBC 606 
