Real Mallorca, after going ahead after 90 seconds, lost 2-1 away at Tenerife on Saturday night when the home team scored two second-half goals in 70 seconds, which means the Palma side have slipped back into the mire that is the relegation bottom four. Pepe Galvez's team failed to capitalise on a great start and his team missed a golden opportunity to have back-to-back wins. Mallorca end the year without a win away from home in this 2015/16 season but if their first half display was anything to go by, the new year looks promising.
The first half started at breakneck speed, and before all the 82 travelling Mallorca fans had found their seats, Oriel went on a mazy run to the Tenerife byline, cut the ball back and Thierry Moutinho scored his first goal for Mallorca to put Los Bermellones one up. What a start, and a Tenerife player had hardly touched the ball.
Mallorca played some delightful football in the first half, with pace, crisp passes, and tackling like men possessed. We had the most vociferous away support of the season and it was such a disappointment Mallorca couldn't seal the victory in the first half which we totally dominated. Just how important our not taking advantage of our superiority was to come back and haunt us after the interval.
Ex-Mallorca player and captain Pep Luis Marti, now the coach of Tenerife, made some tactical changes after half-time and boy did they make a difference. Pep waved his magic wand at half-time but there was no fairy dust to fall our way.
Our interim coach Pepe Galvez decided to make what turned out to be a suicidal substitution six minutes into the half, replacing the youngster Damia Sabater with Abdoul Sissoko and the rot set in. The Mali international hit a misplaced pass into the path of substitute Cristo, he took three paces and unleashed an unstoppable volley into the net past a helpless Timon. Tenerife were back in the game and, playing towards their Ultras, seconds later grabbed goal number two. Cristo was involved again, passing to Omar and he hit a screamer into the top left-hand corner. The home side had made an amazing comeback.
Mallorca and their travelling fans were shell-shocked. How on earth, when we had dominated for so long, could we have gone behind? Galvez by now was ringing the attacking options changes. On came James and what looked like a limping Acuña to the fray – all to no avail. Suddenly, Mallorca had gone from attackers to all-out defending and we just managed to keep the score to 2-1.
Summing up: The Tenerife Sunday paper El Dia was full of praise for their team and especially Pep Luis Marti who's now unbeaten in the six games; three wins and three draws giving him the best start ever for a new Tenerife coach. But the biggest talking point from our point of view was the substitution of Damia Sabater. Up until then he had been the best player on the pitch and there were groans of disbelief from the travelling support when Galvez replaced him. We lost the midfield after that change and Tenerife took full advantage.
Bianchi remains an enigma, however, there's no doubt he's popular with the fans, especially the ladies, but for me on the pitch he's not delivering. We sat near the touchline a few rows up from pitch level. He lays the ball off well but goes down far too often and gets caught offside on a regular basis. Always arguing with officials doesn't help his cause either, so the jury's still out on the long-haired Italian. President/owner Utz Claassen travelled to the game and sat next to Galvez on the flight back. They had a long, three-and-a-half hour talk and the outcome seems to be another vote of confidence.
We also looked very leggy in the second half, perhaps our fitness levels could be a lot better. There's no doubt we missed the absent Brandon Thomas and Michael Pereira who should be back for Saturday's last game of the year at the Son Moix against Girona, kick-off at 6pm. Our fans were terrific and were in great voice both on the plane going out and at the game, although I hasten to add not on the flight back.