Celta Vigo 2 - Real Mallorca 0
Over the years we’ve faced Celta Vigo we’ve had real difficulty with a player called Iago Aspas. In fact this guy, now 38 years old, always got under the skin of Mallorca fans because of his off-the-ball shenanigans, always trying to con match officials, especially feigning fake injuries. Every time he played against us, something happened, and it was a case of “deja vu” in Vigo on Sunday night. Aspas came off the bench in the 68th minute and scored twice (including a penalty) in a 2-0 win over Real Mallorca in a defeat that was monumentally disappointing.
Coach Arrasate picked a starting XI not to lose, with five central defenders. In that set-up we had a centre back who wasn’t a centre back, and a full back who wasn’t a full back, and then we wonder why Mallorca have let in 41 goals so far this season!
The club sacked their last coach, Javier Aguirre, because of his defensive five-at-the-back dull football. When new coach Jagoba Arrasate was appointed, we were told the aim was to play attacking football with wingers. That system has rarely been seen this season.
This is the worst Mallorca team in a long time. There’s no football, no ability to react, no plan and who knows, maybe some time this week – no coach! We look a broken team who remain in the bottom three heading straight for the second division. We seem unable to string two passes together and rely on the outdated long-ball tactics.
American owner/president Andy Kohlberg said in one of his recent interviews that the idea was to get Mallorca into a European place and make the team a force to be reckoned with. Any chance of these dreams coming to fruition now seem light years away. Kohlberg and his two buddies, CEO Alfonso Diaz and director of football Pablo Ortells, have between them built a team that is clearly not good enough to compete in the higher echelons of Spanish football.
Coach Arrasate stands in his technical dugout not knowing what to do next. On Sunday night in Vigo we had no tactics and couldn’t pass a ball without giving it away, and everything was a total embarrassment. It’s now time to consider changing the coach because, in my opinion, if Arrasate remains at the helm of a sinking ship, we’ll be well and truly sunk.
When a team is near the bottom of any league, the general idea is to pick your most attacking line-up and fight like dervishes to try and get back up to safety. Our negative tactics on Sunday night were a disaster. One shot on Celta’s goal is hardly exciting. It’s more like an ode to tedium.
Celta dominated the entire match with non-stop attacks but their finishing was poor. However, when Aspas came on, the whole game changed for the worst for Mallorca. What makes it even worse for me is the fact that our two winter signings were nowhere to be seen.
Our home games are now vital if we want to stay up, and we need 100% improvement next Saturday at 6:30 in the Son Moix when we play a resurgent Real Sociedad. As the relegation battle for survival intensifies, converting tight performance into points, especially in games decided by fine margins, will be crucial for Real Mallorca’s continued first division status.
PS: The plane journey from Mallorca to Vigo is one of the longest undertaken by any team in La Liga this season, at 1,000 km – a bit of a wasted journey for Mallorca!