La Liga Lowdown, Jornada 20: Málaga – new manager, new players, same old problems

26 Jan, 2011 Luke Colbourne Europe, Latest, Spain

Until recently, no one really paid too much attention to south coast side Málaga. They’re your typical ‘yo-yo’ club, bouncing between the top two tiers of Spanish football, the Primera and Segunda División. After relegation from the top-flight at the end of the 2005/06 season, they spent two years trying to fight their way back up, something they eventually managed in 2008.

Their first season back in the Primera saw them finish 8th under manager Antonio Tapia, who had them playing some of their best football in recent times. However, things started to go wrong from the moment Tapia left for fellow Andalusian outfit Real Betis. Málaga then turned to Juan Muñiz, the man that got them promoted three years ago, but it didn’t turn out well; the club finished 17th last season, narrowly avoiding another relegation.

In June 2010, something happened down on the south coast that did make people take notice of Málaga. It was announced that Qatari businessman Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani would be buying the club from then owner Lorenzo Sanz for a reported €36m. Now, the people in this region of Spain are, shall we say, no strangers to a bit of money, but this type of multi-million pound takeover by mega rich Arab investors isn’t something you’d usually see in La Liga.

Of course many drew immediate comparisons with the takeover of Manchester City, but in reality things were different, and a lot more modest. There were no outlandish promises of big name signings and there was no pressure on placed on turning them into some super club. As the new owner himself put it: “Our goal is to help Málaga take the necessary steps to consolidate its presence in La Liga and to reinforce the excitement and hopes of the supporters.”

Their next move was to get rid of manager Juan Muñiz in favour of both a bigger name, and someone with more experience and ambition. That man was ex-Porto coach Jesualdo Ferreira, a seemingly competent appointment, and one that many fans got behind. Ferreira was given the financial backing he needed, and there were a lot of changes made to the squad; many went out and many came in. In came the likes of Kris Stadsgaard, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Salomón Rondón and record signing Sebastián Fernández just to name a few. In total Ferreira spent around €17m.

Out on the pitch though, things weren’t going well for the new man. It’s all well and good playing attacking, attractive football but if your defence doesn’t match up, there’s always going to be problems. And Málaga’s defence didn’t match up. Game after game they were shipping goal after goal. They may have been scoring but they weren’t picking up points. Even more frustrating for the fans, they couldn’t even buy a home victory.

Nine games, two wins and six losses later, with the club still sat in the relegation zone, enough was enough and Ferreira was sacked. Stability was becoming an issue at the club; former CEO Yasmin Al-Sahoud had already been ruthlessly dismissed by the new owners, and now it was Ferreira’s turn.

On the 5^th November Málaga made their first big name signing of the new regime when they announced former Villarreal and Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini as the new man in charge. It was seen as something of a coup for a struggling Málaga and this time the fans appeared to be genuinely excited. The Chilean came with an excellent reputation after a great five years at Villarreal and a reasonably good time at Real Madrid. “The club is growing and has a very impressive project,” he said upon arrival at La Rosaleda.

Pellegrini got off to a good start, winning his first game against Levante. And, much to the fans’ pleasure, it was their first home victory of the season. So far so good. But up until the winter break, they had only managed to win once, and the problem again was that they were conceding too many goals. Results included a 3-0 loss to Deportivo, a 4-1 loss to Hércules, and a 3-0 loss to Atlético Madrid.

Pellegrini got to work in the winter transfer market, bringing in a host of new faces. This time though, they brought in players of a much higher standard. Of Ferreira’s signings, only Salomón Rondón has been able to make a real impact, whereas the rest either haven’t played much or simply don’t seem to possess the necessary quality to take the club where they want to be. Pellegrini brought in Sergio Asenjo and Nacho Camacho from Atlético Madrid, and in an attempt to plug their leaky defence, Martín Demichelis signed on-loan from Bayern Munich. Also incoming were Enzo Maresca, Diego Buonanotte and the biggest name of the lot Júlio Baptista.

Their form after the winter break can only be described as erratic. It began with a win over Sporting, followed by a draw and a loss (although that was away at the Camp Nou). This weekend Málaga made the trip to the Mestalla to face Valencia, in what turned out to be a fascinating game of football. Four of their winter acquisitions took their place in the starting line-up, with Júlio Baptista playing in a front three containing Duda and the in-form Rondón.

It was in fact Rondón who opened the scoring after an intelligent move started by Baptista, but much of Málaga’s good work was undone seven minutes later as Martín Demichelis gave away a penalty and got himself sent off for the foul on Juan Mata. Mata stuck the penalty away to make it 1-1 with just 17 minutes gone. Some horrific Valencia defending allowed Rondón to grab his second ten minutes before half-time and Málaga went in to the break leading.

Unsurprisingly, the same old problems surfaced for Málaga; before the game they were one of La Liga’s highest goal scorers but they also had the worst defence in the league. They conceded another two goals in the second-half and picked up another red card. Roberto Soldado and Éver Banega put Los Che 3-2 in front, before the craziness continued at the Mestalla with Baptista scoring a wonderful solo goal to make it 3-3. Then, rather inevitably, Aritz Aduriz stole a 90th minute winner for Valencia.

It was a game that summed Málaga up perfectly, but if they are to progress and somehow finish in the top ten as the owners want, they’re going to have find a way to cut out the problems at the back. The owners have promised the fans further investment in the coming years, including even more work on the training facilities and academy. Everything is in place for Málaga grow into a top ten club at least; let’s just hope that they have more patience with Pellegrini than they did with Ferreira.

Lower down the Lowdown

Of course Real Madrid and Barcelona won their games, but with quite a contrast in their performances. Barça were a goal up inside the first few minutes, which effectively meant game over for Racing Santander. Madrid were given a much tougher game at home against Mallorca, but managed to find a 60th minute breakthrough courtesy of Karim Benzema. The Frenchman finally seems to be finding his feet in Spain, yet José Mourinho still insists that Madrid need a new striker.
Atlético Madrid slipped to another defeat, this time away to Sporting at El Molinón thanks to a solitary David Barral strike. Atlético are in trouble though, and so is Quique Sánchez Flores. They seem to get worse with every performance, and Quique seems to have lost control over his players. Not sure how long the board are going to let this go on, but my prediction is “not much longer”.
Luís Fabiano re-found his scoring boots this weekend as he bagged a hat-trick against Luis García’s Levante. As well as ‘O Fabuloso’, Sevilla also had Jesús Navas back on form after his injury. They’re still very inconsistent under Gregorio Manzano, but they moved up to 7th with the win, just one point behind Atlético.
Another man with his scoring boots firmly on is Giuseppe Rossi. The little Italian forward marked another two goals on Saturday, taking his league total to 11, as Villarreal beat Real Sociedad at El Madrigal. And Rossi may have got the goals, but credit should also go to Santi Cazorla who was excellent once again.

Results

Sevilla 4-1 Levante, Barcelona 3-0 Racing, Valencia 4-3 Málaga, Getafe 1-3 Espanyol, Zaragoza 1-0 Deportivo, Almería 3-2 Osasuna, Sporting 1-0 Atlético, Real Madrid 1-0 Mallorca, Villarreal 2-1 Real Sociedad, Athletic 3-0 Hércules.

Goal of the Week

Júlio Baptista (Valencia 4-3 Málaga)