The RFEF accepted the request from La Liga and the Palma club to modify the date of the fixture as it coincides with the Kosovo/Israel European Championship qualifying game, and the call up of Mallorca’s Kosovan striker Vedat Muriqi.
The change of date for that match, caused by the conflict in Gaza, led to our La Liga game being rescheduled until Muriqi is available, and has divided opinion from Mallorquinistas on social media. The situation means that RCD Mallorca won’t have a meaningful fixture until November 25, when they face At. Madrid in the capital. Muriqi’s selection for Kosovo (he’s a shoo in every time they play) prompted La Liga to side with Mallorca in asking for a postponement rather than be without their joint top scorer, saying he is an integral part of the team.
Mallorca’s coaching staff, led by 64-year-old Mexican Javier Aguirre, now have to design a kind of pre-season to keep the squad active. Three weeks’ inactivity at the top level could either work in our favour, giving the players some respite or, as most fans seem to think, be a terrible mistake that could cost us dearly, with the team losing its competitive rhythm.
On the agenda now, including the Copa del Rey second round, are back to back home games (after the trip to Madrid), when Cadiz, Alaves and Sevilla will visit the Son Moix making November and early December a vital period for our future.
These home games, if we win them all, would allow the team to shoot up to the quieter regions of top flight Spanish football. Initially we have to secure maximum points against both Cadiz and Alaves as they are in close proximity to us in the classifications.
Many fans say the game against Cadiz should have gone ahead with Abdon Prats (who’s just put pen to paper on a two-year contract extension) and the under-achieving Canadian Cyle Larin (who’s yet to score a league goal) playing together up front.
If Larin had done his job instead of missing umpteen scoring chances, then I wouldn’t have a problem, but that proposed situation for me is too risky. If Abdon picked up an injury during the game, we simply don’t have a tried and tested replacement. Not having a game for three weekends is not good for us stressed-out fans but if the postponement does us a favour, all well and good – hope springs eternal !
RCD Mallorca have never looked well this season but after Saturday’s debacle against Betis, we’re heading towards intensive care. We’ve made our worst start to a season after 12 games since 1991 (when we were relegated) and fans put the blame on our present predicament fairly and squarely on coach Javier Aguirre’s doorstep.
Aguirre doesn’t seem able to find the key to unlock our troubles after football director Pablo Ortells (who had the largest budget – ever – at his disposal), spent almost 25 million euros on so-called “better” players. There is a worrying lack of performance from certain team members and Aguirre rolls out the same rhetoric after every game. His rallying cries are convincing fewer and fewer fans because they are not backed up by good results.
Our squad looks unbalanced with precious little creativity in the ammunition department. Sergi Darder is a brilliant player but he’s totally different from Kang In Lee (who’s now scoring freely at PSG).
Darder’s not as explosive as the South Korean was and certainly hasn’t got the slide rule passing touch of Salva Sevilla (now seeing out his career at Deportivo La Coruña). Belgian international centre back Van Der Hayden is now fourth choice and talented Colombian youngster Dani Luna is languishing in our B team in the local third division.
The question fans are asking is can the coaching staff extract better performances from this squad (the best we’ve ever had) as Mallorca continue in free fall ?
It would appear Aguirre’s job isn’t an issue with the club’s hierarchy (the usual “kiss of death” situation) but Aguirre must know the longer we play this dull, defensive style football, his credit will run out. Football is a results business and at the moment a result just ain’t happening. Three weekends of inactivity in La Liga at a very delicate stage in our season is to say the least a daunting prospect – let’s see what happens.
PS The referees committee in Madrid has rescinded the second yellow card shown wrongly to Omar Mascarell against Betis last Saturday, calling it “clear error.” The player is now available to play against Atletico Madrid on the 25th. Also Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni, who lives in Calvia, is likely to pick Mallorca right back Pablo Maffeo for two upcoming games. Maffeo, whose father is Brazilian and his mother Argentinian, has been on Scaloni’s radar for some time and deserves an international call-up.
AND FINALLY, a colonial story. Two Aussie blokes were out shooting in the outback and came across a huge sink hole in the ground. They approached it slowly and were amazed at its size. The first Aussie said “Fair dinkum, that’s some hole. I can’t even see the bottom. I wonder how deep it is ?”
The second Aussie replied “There’s an old gearbox over there, let’s throw it in and see how long it takes to get to the bottom.” So they picked up the heavy gearbox, carried it over to the hole, counted “One, two, three” and heaved it in. As they were standing there looking over the edge of the hole, a big billy goat came chasing through the bush, ran up to the hole and jumped in head first.
“Strewth,” said the first Aussie as they stood in amazement, “Let’s have another look inside.” Just then a bush farmer appeared saying “Say, you blokes, haven’t seen my goat by any chance ?”
The first Aussie answered “Funny you should ask cobber, we were just standing here when a goat came running out of the bushes and jumped into that big hole there.” The farmer shook his head, “Nah mate, no worries, that’s impossible. I had him chained to a gearbox !!”
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