BACARY SAGNA has urged Manchester City fans to be patient with his fellow French international Eliaquim Mangala, insisting he can still be a "great" given time.
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| Bacary Sagna wants Manchester City fans to be patient with Eliaquim Mangala |
The absence of Vincent Kompany from the heart of City's defence as he has battled with a calf problem has thrown a harsh spotlight on the work of the big-money signing.
For some, that light has exposed too many errors of judgement and not enough clean sheets as City have struggled to fill the gap left by their influential captain.
Sagna accepts Mangala has made some mistakes since joining City from Porto for £32million in August 2014. But the full back is adamant he has all the tools to become one of the best in the Premier League.
"As defenders we are always going to have our critics but he is going to be a great defender one day," said Sagna ahead of tonight's top of the table clash at Leicester.
"For now we just have to be patient. He did well against Sunderland and demonstrated he can be decisive defensively. I think it is just about confidence. He is still young, only 24, and he is going to improve a lot.
"It's never easy to take criticism but he's still young. He can make mistakes but he can do well and I'm sure he is going to do even better.
"The club bought him for a lot of money but it's not easy to deal with it because he is always going to have that image, that he's the most expensive defender. But he is working really hard."
Sagna and Mangala have been putting in the hours at the end of training in order to work on positioning and ball control.
"He wants to get better. He doesn't ask me, but I want to help him," said Sagna. "No matter what we try to communicate, even after games, we try to analyse when we concede goals what he should have done a bit better, what I should have done a bit better. We try to analyse to improve."
The young defender, who has made 43 appearances for City, is likely to have his extra work fully tested when City travel to the King Power Stadium for their meeting with the season's surprise package.
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| Sagna is wary of the threat of Leicester duo Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez |
In Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, the Foxes have the most effective goalscoring combination in the League with 28 goals - enough to set alarm bells ringing in any defensive partnership.
However, the pair were both substituted in Leicester's defeat to Liverpool on Boxing Day with Vardy said to be feeling unwell and Mahrez suffering from fatigue.
If they shake off their ailments they will provide a stiff test for City chosen centre-back pairing given that Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi have not kept a clean sheet in six attempts so far this season, despite emerging with three points four times.
Sagna insists City's back four have to concentrate on their own games rather than worry about the Leicester pair.
"We have to focus on us and on the way we want to defend. We want to dictate the game [to them]," he said. "I heard about Mahrez in France when he played for Le Havre and he is a top quality player who has the level to play for big teams.
"We are going to have to think about Leicester and analyse their game. It is a massive game but we have to show our strength.
"I am not surprised they are where they are because they have quality players - we could see that last season. They play as a team and they fight as a team as well.
"They are going to be very dangerous and hard to beat."
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