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Bernd Krauss found out on Sunday night that he doesn't possess the players in his limited squad to implement a rotation system after Real Mallorca fell to an embarrassingly easy 3–0 defeat at the hands of Las Palmas. It was the first league loss at Son Moix since September 24, 2000 when Malaga won 1–0 in the third match of last season. Krauss made the surprising decision to leave the experienced Miquel Soler and Mallorca engine Vicente Engonga out of the squad to face the Canary Island team and his decision back–fired with terrible consequences. Incredibly Soler was replaced by Vicente Fernandez, who was forced to play his league debut for Mallorca at left–back, a position in which he had never before played. Even more astonishing was the decision to leave Engonga out and instead opt for the hopelessly out–of–his–depth “Chi Chi” Soler. Any regular Mallorca watcher will know when Engonga has a rare off–day Mallorca suffer, but when he is not even playing the team are sent into disarray. They will also know that the number 15 shirt of “Chi Chi” spells trouble. It wasn't just Krauss's decisions, though, that were to blame for Sunday's defeat, but also the nonchalant approach with which the players took to the first league match of the season. Apart from the hard–working Ariel Ibagaza – once again pushed too far wide to make any real impact on the game – and Samuel Eto'o, who at times displayed some sublime skill, the team appeared lethargic. Mallorca were obviously still dreaming of Champions League glory and failed to realise that teams such as Las Palmas, kept nicely ticking over by former Spurs man Vinny Samways in midfield, have the ammunition for an upset. Despite their lack of urgency Mallorca looked the more likely to score in the first–half and should have done in the 35th minute when Alvaro Novo was ruled to have been pushed in the area by defender Paqui. Albert Luque however placed the spot kick straight at Nacho Gonzalez to further dent Mallorca's abysmal penalty taking record over the past 12 months; One goal from five penalties. Earlier in the game Miguel Nadal had sent a long range missile just wide of Gonzalez's goal and Vicente had missed an open net when he failed to connect with an enticing Marcos cross, but it was Las Palmas who took the lead with three minutes remaining in the first-half when a touch of magic from the talented Pablo Lago lit up an otherwise staid 45 minutes. Picking up the ball on the edge of the area Lago wove his way through four defenders á la Ricardo Villa to slide the ball around Leo Franco and stake his claim for goal of the season. Three minutes into the second half Fernando Niño displayed why no big club took a chance on signing him during the summer months when he totally mis–timed a header leaving Orlando to pass to an open Jorge who made it 2–0 Las Palmas. Leo Biagini, Carlitos and Albert Riera were quickly injected into the Mallorca team in hopes of salvaging some dignity, but the changes made little difference to the team's performance. What Krauss would have done for a Luis Carreras or a Finidi George at that moment, but unfortunately for Mallorca both players were disposed of during the pre-season. Leo Franco was forced to make a couple of fine saves towards the end to stop it from getting too embarrassing, but the youngster Carmelo made sure of the rout when he tapped in from a Jiminez pass to make it three and prompt the familiar touch line celebrations of former Mallorca coach Fernando Vazquez, who claimed his first victory at the helm of Las Palmas.