Real Mallorca languish at the wrong end of the La Liga table after a soporific 0-0 draw against Getafe on Saturday night. There is a word of footballing jargon that describes Getafe’s performances week in week out – sh**housery – in which they time-waste, bend every possible rule, collapse in apparent agony after being lightly brushed by any part of an opponent’s body, and harangue the referee. This game wasn’t helped by a hopeless official who failed to show yellow cards for bad tackles and, on the stroke of half time, missed a back pass by a Getafe player that was picked up by their goalkeeper, David Soria, that should have been a direct free kick for Mallorca. Then amazingly the referee didn’t add on any extra time at half time after there were several stoppages for various offences in the first 45 minutes.
After the break Mallorca continued on the attack, but could have played until midnight and still not scored. We just couldn’t produce the goods in the final third and were more than erratic when it came to keeping hold of the ball. Watching proceedings was torture personified as both teams had virtually nothing to offer in front of goal, although we had a couple chances our goalkeeper didn’t have a single shot to save. Near the end Getafe’s goalkeeper made a stunning one-handed save from Larin in what looked like being his first goal of the season. With yet another 0-0 draw and no wins at home, the Mallorca faithful are becoming disillusioned. Nine points in 11 games and three places above the relegation drop zone shows a very poor return for the club spending more than 20 million euros in the last transfer window.
Four draws and one defeat at home, the same points total as this time last season, is worrying data. Neither against Villareal, Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia and now Getafe, have we been able to win in the Son Moix. It’s also bad news that in three of these fixtures, we’ve failed to score.
Coach Aguirre has shuffled the pack on several occasions without success. He must now wait for the return of Raillo, Maffeo and Darder from injury because, especially in midfield, we are floundering. Once again Portuguese midfielder Samu Costa “The Destroyer” was our best player. All in all, I can’t think of any game involving Getafe when only one yellow card was shown by a follically-challenged referee who, if he had been of medical persuasion, would have been struck off the register.
Commiserations to American Mike from Pollensa who was at his first Real Mallorca “soccer” match. What an introduction to the so-called beautiful game ! Next up is a trip to Seville to play Real Betis next Saturday at 16:15.