After a week when the official enquiry into alleged Manchester City financial shenanigans got under way – the defence barrister secured a 500,000 quid sponsorship for his wig! – Real Mallorca got three points which were worth their weight in gold on Tuesday night when they beat Real Sociedad 1-0 thanks to an early Abdon Prats penalty.
After the defeat to Villareal last Saturday, the doubts outweighed the certainties many fans on social media had, wondering in what direction new Basque coach Jagoba Arrasate was taking the team. Fast forward 72 hours and everything got a little bit clearer with Arrasate making eight personnel changes from the Villareal defeat.
Some fans I’ve talked to were unhappy with the team’s performance last Saturday but it’s fair to say Arrasate has changed a lot of things on the playing side. All these changes take time to bed in and the display against Sociedad, especially in the second half, showed signs of improvement. Our previous manager, Javier Aguirre, was a past master at defensive football whereas Arrasate is much more attack-minded and against Sociedad we got our first home win of the season in a game where we showed maturity under pressure. Tuesday night was the first time we’d beaten Real Sociedad in Palma since 2012.
La Liga’s fixture list this season is brutal and there’s no room to take prisoners. There’s one thing for sure, this campaign will be another roller coaster ride for RCD Mallorca, full of ups and downs. Playing with wingers is a rarity these days and in Robert Navarro and Japanese flying machine Takuma Asano we have two brilliant wide attackers. The jury appears to be out on 24-year-old Portuguese winger Chiquinho on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers as he hasn’t made a league appearance as yet.
An idea I’m personally not too keen on is to rotate the goalkeepers. At Osasuna Arrasate used the system to good effect and with both Dominik Greif and Ibiza-born Leo Roman vying for the starting position, I’d rather see Dominik being our No.1. For me he’s a better all-round “portero” with Roman giving us fans many heart-in-mouth moments as he plays with the ball at his feet far too often. On that subject, the modern pressing game has made football boring to watch in my opinion and I’m old school, and much prefer goalkeepers to lump the ball, route one, up the pitch and cause a bit of chaos. Nowadays the full backs and goalkeepers have more touches than midfielders and attackers. Passing around at the back in the penalty area is as often as not dangerous.
Play away on Monday
Mallorca travel to Seville on Sunday to play Betis in their formidable Estadio Benito Villamarin on Monday night at 9pm. To say the atmosphere will be intimidating is putting it mildly. A few years ago I went there and towards the end of the game the Betis Ultras set fire to the plastic seats to celebrate their team staying in La Liga for another season! A draw would be a good result for us.
One of the most flamboyant players and the Mallorca fans’ favourite sons is 36-year-old Dani Rodriguez from the small town of Betanzos in Galicia. Dani is possibly the best box-to-box player ever to pull on the coveted red jersey for Real Mallorca and was signed from Albacete in the Summer of 2018 for a paltry sum of 600,000 euros. Last Tuesday against Real Sociedad he played his 150th game in top flight Spanish football. He joined Real Mallorca when Vicente Moreno was the coach and has improved unquestionably in his time here. He’s scored 14 goals with 21 assists and is about to enter the club’s hall of fame. This season alone he scored the winning goal against Leganes a few weeks ago in our first win of the new season. In addition to the 150 games in La Liga, he’s appeared in 247 games in all competitions. Even at 36, Dani has a superb engine and his bursts into an opponent’s half with the ball at his feet are a joy to behold. Probably one of his most memorable goals was in the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Club in Sevilla last May. Without a doubt a class act who continues to turn on the style. Suerte “El Tigre”!
PS Quote of the week comes from Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson who’s been complaining about being tired and that they have to play too many games. Hang on a minute, doesn’t he stand between two posts most of the time!!
AND FINALLY
Maria had just got married and being a traditional Italian, she was still a virgin. So, on her wedding night, staying at her mother’s house, she was nervous. But her mother reassured her. “Don’t worry, Maria. Tony’s a good man. Go upstairs and he’ll take care of you.” So up she went. When she got upstairs, Tony took off his shirt and exposed his hairy chest. Maria ran downstairs to her mother and said, “Mama, Mama, Tony’s got a big hairy chest.” “Don’t worry, Maria,” said the mother,“all good men have hairy chests. Go upstairs. He’ll take good care of you.” So, up she went again. When she got up in the bedroom, Tony took off his pants exposing his hairy legs. Again, Maria ran downstairs to her mother. “Mama, Mama, Tony took off his pants and he’s got hairy legs!” “Don’t worry. All good men have hairy legs. Tony’s a good man. Go upstairs and he’ll take good care of you.” So up she went again. When she got up there, Tony took off his socks and on his left foot he was missing three toes. When Maria saw this, she ran downstairs. “Mama, Mama, Tony’s got a foot and a half!” “Stay here and stir the pasta,” said the mother. “This is a job for Mama.”
