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Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City manager, has said he is relaxed about David Silva's slow start to life in the Premier League and blamed it, in part, on the player's international commitments with Spain.

Silva has been on the substitutes' bench for City's last three league games, starting only the Europa League qualifying ties against Timisoara and the opening match of the season at Tottenham Hotspur. It follows a bittersweet World Cup for the 23-year-old, when the joy of being part of the victorious squad was tempered by losing his place after their opening group game, the 1-0 defeat to Switzerland, and not playing any part in the final.

The impressive form of James Milner and Adam Johnson, playing in the wide attacking positions, has left Silva on the edges so far, but Mancini said it was inevitable the £25m signing from Valencia would need time to settle in to his new club.

"The thing with Silva is that we have been able to work with him only a couple of days at a time since he arrived. He had just signed for us when he went off with his national team to play in Mexico [during the August international break]. Then he came back and very quickly was off again with the national team again, this time to play in Argentina – another long trip.

"I thought he did very well when he came on [Silva was an 85th-minute substitute in the 1-1 draw against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday] but I always said that he would need time because it is very different here than playing in Spain. The internationals are over now and I think it will be time for him to play in the team from the next game."

That will come against Red Bull Salzburg on Thursday, in the first match of City's Europa League group. Mancini hopes to have three of his injured players – Wayne Bridge, Emmanuel Adebayor and Nigel de Jong – available for the trip to Austria, with a more realistic target for Jérôme Boateng being the game at Wigan Athletic on Saturday, but he will resist the temptation to hand Shay Given his first appearance for the club this season.

Mancini had promised Given there would be an opportunity to play in cup ties when he persuaded the Republic of Ireland international not to leave in the wake of losing his place to Joe Hart. For now, however, Given has been told he must be patient. "We are involved in four competitions and I'm sure Shay will play in Europe at some point but I will continue to play Joe on Thursday," Mancini said. "It is a difficult decision for me because, as I keep saying, Shay is a strong goalkeeper but at the moment this is my choice."

That will reassure Hart following the mix-up with Kolo Touré that led to Nikola Kalinic opening the scoring for Blackburn on Saturday. "I haven't said anything to him about it," Mancini said. "Joe called for the ball and that's why Kolo didn't play it. It was a gift for Blackburn but this hasn't changed my belief in him. Joe is a good goalkeeper but this sort of thing can happen. He's still young and he is strong enough mentally not to let it bother him."

guardian.co.uk