Real Mallorca´s dreadful away form continued with a sterile 0 0 draw at lowly Eldense on Saturday the 5 th of September. The home team play in Elda near Alicante and had garnered just one point from their first three games. The visitors made one change bringing back fit again Sergi Darder in place of Pablo Torre who was relegated to the bench.
The starting wingers were Luvumbo and Josep Cerda. With a tall striker Fuentes in the middle clearly it required the wingers to get to the byline and put crosses in. Instead, time after time whenever receiving the ball they cut back inside and the ball was played aimlessly across midfield. In the second half they were replaced by Liso and Torres but the pattern continued and beanpole striker Buksa who replaced Fuentes had nothing to feed on.
The only moment of note came on the 44 th minute when Morlanes was tripped in the penalty area. Alex Sala strode up and smashed the penalty kick against the post. The home side were delighted to gain a point against Mallorca who are favourites for promotion from the second division. The away form must be addressed and a sense of urgency and directness in the play might be a starting point. The major reason for relegation from La Liga last season was the awful away form. If the club are to achieve immediate promotion then points on the road are a must.
Gifts From Sabadell
Next up was Sabadell from Barcelona at the Son Moix on Sunday the 13 th of September. They were promoted from the third division at the end of last season and had made a good and unbeaten start to life in La Liga Hypermotion as the Spanish second is called.
Mallorca made two changes from the previous starting eleven with Liso replacing Luvumbo and Soumahoro brought in to replace the injured Toni Lato on the left side of defence. Mallorca made a bright start and on ten minutes home goalkeeper Arnau Tenas spotted the visitors central defenders were out of position and launched a 70 yard pass which Fuentes latched on to. Sabadell´s keeper Fuoli dashed off his line and Fuentes calmly lobbed the ball over him into an empty net. On 24 minutes defender Urri played a dreadful back pass into the path of Fuentes who rounded the keeper to notch his second goal of the night.
Mallorca´s Christmas had come early with two gift wrapped goals and the fans were salivating over a possible goal fest. Fuentes was a constant threat but the visitors held on until half time and then introduced four substitutes . The game changed completely with the visitors launching attack after attack and winning numerous corners. Mallorca´s captain Raillo and his defensive central defender partner Valjent repelled many crosses and Arnau made a number of saves. The home side could not change the tide of play and the full time whistle was greeted with a mixture of cheers and relief.
After 5 games Mallorca have garnered 10 points and sit third in the table behind Castellon on 13 and Eibar who have 12 points. Curiously the next two sides behind Mallorca are Tenerife and Las Palmas so the Spanish islands are to the fore.
The next game is away to mid table Real Sociedad B on the19th of September at 14.00 and a victory is clearly imperative even at this stage of the season.
A home game follows against Almeria on the 27 th of September at 16.15. Tickets are available from the website www.rcdmallorca.es
Charles Nutter
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