Deportivo-Mallorca
By: Jeremy | September 20th, 2008Round 3 of La Liga finds our boys heading to La Coruna to face Deportivo in what is a critical early season match for both teams. La Coruna is one of the most beautiful and friendly places I have visited in my life and the Riazor is a great stadium where the fans always support their club with passion. Although they have dropped off in recent years, Depor is still a tough team, especially at home, and we are going to have to work hard to get any points from this match.
Depor comes off a shocking 2-0 mid week loss to Norwegian club SK Brann in the UEFA Cup and lost 1-0 to Villarreal last week and now its fans are on edge desperate for some points at home. This could work to our advantage or cause an inspired performance from the locals. Luckilly for them they come in pretty healthy and they should have their choice of players. As with any team that has had a run of bad luck. combined with the great history, the fans are a little more restless and the leadership of the coach is being questioned. Depor should be lucky to even be in the UEFA Cup and with their talent level compared to the talent level of other top La Liga sides, this is not a Champions League quality side so the fans should not be upset at the teams play, just at management for not being able to bring in players like Villarreal seems to be able to do.
Mallorca on the other hand is still smarting from not finishing the game last week against Osasuna. Not getting the full three points against lower level clubs at home when you are up a goal in the last ten minutes does not bode well for the season. Even with a good week of practice, points cannot be assumed in this match. Josemi will not play as he is suspended, but with Ramis likely taking his place, this is not a big loss.
Many fans, including myself, are still trying to forget the talent of last year that was lost and it will be harder to do until someone emerges as a leader and a star player. While Arango has the quality he seems to be someone who stars in support of others. Aduriz has the potential and showed last week he will be our main goal scorer. Maybe he can combine some leadership and scoring as the season progresses. Either way, this is a team still trying to find itself. Familiarity with each other is going to take some time and the fans are going to have to accept that success is likely to be done with a grinding style and not a flash of speed and individual effort that we have come to expect.
With the game being played in such a hostile environment against a team that needs to win, I cant see us getting any points. Depor may show that they are no more then a mid table team, but we have not shown to be that ourselves so how this game turns out is anyones guess. The players are clearly motivated and Manzano seems happy with their efforts, but poor results are going to start to get him questioned and the players will feel the wrath of the fans who expect them to be Guiza, Ibagaza, et al.
This game will be exciting and with both clubs needing points to correct what seems to be sinking prospects, the tackles will be a little harder, the pace a little quicker, and the fans a little louder. I think its the home environment that makes the day for the home team.
Prediction
Deportivo 2-1 Mallorca
Category: Mallorca Team News
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments are closed
Home 
