After a week when it was announced that Scotland would be the first country in the UK to allow water cremations – the company behind it say they hope it will eventually become as popular as being pickled in single malt! – Real Mallorca reach match day 27 with a trip to Pamplona where they’ll play Osasuna tomorrow (Saturday, March 7) at 2pm. The Navarre side have only lost two home games this season and Mallorca have only won once on the road – last September. While the result looks to be a foregone conclusion, miracles can happen!
It’s been a traumatic couple of weeks in the 110 year history of Real Mallorca, as relegation looms on the horizon and the grim reaper is sharpening his scythe! Watching Real Mallorca games of late is dangerous for stress levels and should carry a government health warning. However, all this negativity could be about to change since a new coach/manager has been appointed, following the dismissal of Arrasate who had tried everything to get the team back on track, to no avail.
Mallorca’s director of football Pablo Ortells (who’s not the most popular person at the moment) announced that Arrasate’s replacement was to be 45-year-old Argentinian ex-international Martin Demichelis (without a team since last May). The question now being asked is will the new incumbent bring to Real Mallorca what’s known as the “new manager bounce”?
That’s a phenomenon where a team in trouble has an upturn in form and performance after appointing a new coach/manager. The team could hopefully be driven by fresh motivation, new tactics and a psychological reset for the players. Ortells had a shortlist of out-of-work Spanish coaches, but Demichelis was the one candidate willing to have a contract valid only until the end of this season.
It’s a short contract with a very clear objective – keep an underachieving Mallorca in top flight Spanish football.
Demichelis’s challenge is Herculean, as not only can’t we score goals of late, with only one shot on target in the last 180 minutes, we’ve conceded a staggering 42 goals in 26 matches. After four seasons at the helm of the Bayern Munich’s youth team, he took over the reins at Argentinian giants River Plate, winning the league and cup. He then moved on to Mexican club Monterrey, achieving a record of 20 wins, 11 draws and 12 defeats in 43 games.
As a player, Demichelis boasts an extensive international career, playing 51 times for his country.
At club level he turned out for Bayern 174 times, Manchester City 78 times and between 2011-2013 Malaga in La Liga. Questions regarding his appointment have been raised concerning his lack of experience as a La Liga manager, although he knows the league well, having spent time at Malaga and for a short spell at Espanyol.
He seems to favour the 4-3-3 system and at his first press conference he said “The team are emotionally battered and that’s where we need to focus. There’s a long way to go and we have to spend this week improving our intensity, our defence needs to vastly improve as we’re leaking far too many goals.”
After last week’s results it looks like we’re in a head to head with Elche who haven’t won a match this year, and their next two fixtures are against an injury-hit Real Madrid and Villareal (both away). If we beat Espanyol at home on Sunday, March 15 at 2pm, we’ll arrive at Elche’s ground on the 22nd ahead of them on points. After Getafe surprisingly beat an injury-wracked Real Madrid 0-1 in the Bernabeu last Monday night, they’ve reached 32 points, eight ahead of Mallorca.
That result could be beneficial to us. We play Getafe in our penultimate away game of the season, a match in which the Madrid side will likely have nothing left to play for. Mallorca with their new regime play in their last three games Getafe, Levante and Oviedo where nine points could see us free from relegation worries. Is that wishful thinking or not?!
In Spanish football there’s something called the CTA (technical committee of referees) who on Tuesdays analyse the mistakes committed by referees the previous weekend, both on the pitch and in the VAR room. One of their findings this week was from our 0-1 defeat to Real Sociedad last Saturday. In the 12th minute at Son Moix, Vedat Muriqi and Sociedad’s Zubeldia were involved in a challenge in the Sociedad penalty area where Muriqi fell after being grabbed with both hands by the Basque player, which should have resulted in a red card and a penalty.
The referee, Sr Miguel Sesma, failed to acknowledge the incident, waving play on, and Sr Jorge Figueroa in the VAR room wasn’t even consulted. The referees’ committee, or as I call them “wise after the event” said “It was a clear and punishable foul, a penalty should have been awarded along with a red card – VAR should have intervened.” That’s the second time this season that the refereeing crew has made a mistake in favour of a Mallorca opponent. WE WUZ ROBBED!
AND FINALLY, it is a little known fact that Hollywood legend Yul Brynner had personal hygiene issues.
This came to light on a visit to Liverpool in the 1960s, when he was invited to watch a game at Anfield and many of those around him noticed an unpleasant odour. To this day the crowd at Liverpool games still sing “Yul never wore cologne!!”