Valencia-Mallorca

By: Jeremy | November 28th, 2009

mallorcavalencia

I am a little frustrated as my preview got deleted by mistake but since I had Valencia winning this game 2-1 and the boys from Palma ended up earning a hard fought draw in a game they probably should have lost, lets look at the game and its overall importance and be thankful for the result.

Coming into the game, Mallorca was in 6th place with a perfect home record and some(at the time anyway)impressive away draws against Atletico Madrid and Villarreal under their belt. While no small achievement, these draws seemed to have been against teams that may not be of European quaility like everyone thought they would be at the beginning of the season.

With losses to Barca expected and also to Sporting Gijon both on the road, the latter of which made us take a step back and temper our expectations(although now Sporting looks like a good team), the Valencia match would be another chance to see if this is just a team that knows how to take care of business against weaker La Liga teams at home, or if they were actually solid contenders with the thinking that a top six finish is not out of the question.

Thanks to some unexpected misses by David Villa and some nice saves by Aouate, combined with a never say die attitude, Mallorca stole a point at the Mestalla. With Josemi, Ramis, Nunes, and Ayoze leading a much improved backline, Mallorca held firm against a team that is clearly better at this stage of the season, but whose lack of organization and team cohesiveness keeps it from being a bit higher up in the standings.

Despite all this positivity in the back, it still takes a magical performance from Valero to keep the midfield linked to the attack as Marti is past his prime and Suarez is too inconstent for the two midfield spots that need to be improved upon if Mallorca is to really be considered a top six contender. Valero cannot carry the midfielders forever. Aduriz playing is vital week to week and while he did not score his presence was always a threat. He does need a more consisent strike partner.

Valencia missed an opening chance in the first few minutes where Villa should have finished. While Valenica controlled the first half, it went to halftime at 0-0 to the disappointment of the home fans.

There was no doubt they got a nice talking to from their coach as they came out flying and went up 1-0 on Villas goal in minute 49. Despite losing David Silva to injury in the first half, substitute Joaquin played well and hit the bar when he should have made it 2-0. Once one of the up and comers in Spanish football, he has settled in as a solid but no longer top tier talent and it was good to see him play well today. Multiple chances and some nice saves by Aouate kept the game 1-0 until an iffy but definitely earned penalty by Chori Castro allowed Valero to step up and equalize from the spot in minute 84. Mallorca then held on to earn a draw and Manzano no doubt made his happiness clear while Valencia supporters have to feel frustrated as their lack of finishing cost them the three points.

The bottom line is Mallorca is showing they are solid European contenders. The results against the better teams can certainly be analyzed as games where they did not get points but instead the other team gave them away, but over a long season, successful teams will have quite a few of these matches. The fact they win the games they are supposed to win means a lot. They have put another tough game past them with positive results and for now sit in sixth and in the European spots. At the beginning of the season, being where we are now was not even on the most optimistic fans mind.

There are still a couple of weak spots that need to be addressed and no doubt Manzano will do so in January. A couple of tweaks with some added depth will keep Mallorca in the top half of the league all year long and maybe their recent history of late season performances will lift this team to a european spot. We fans have to be happy and understand to keep Manzano, we need to qualify for Europe.

Another great weekend to be a Mallorca fan and lets keep it going.