Saw the game last week between Depor and Mallorca and probably the biggest mistake we could make is to expect an easy victory in Son Moix tommorow........Mallorca is IMO by far the strongest squad among those in the relegation zone with excellent individuals.......and why aren't they "clicking" as a team this season is probably an issue for another (separate) topic......anyway, I saw the game and they( generally speaking) were not playing so bad...there problem was (brilliant) Tristan(along with some defending errors) who practicaly killed the game after half an hour(3 chances-3 beautiful goals).....another problem was that Ibagaza probably played one of his worst games (at least of those I saw him playing) and without him doing his job (playmaking) Eto'o and Luque couldn't really do much either..........
So, that's at least part of the formula how to play against Mallorca.....try to stop Ibagaza(unfortunately I don't think that he can repeat two horrible games in a row) and to take advantage of their pretty slow defence( Nadal, Soler)....
On the other hand we are not in position to sit back and wait for the opportunities in counters so I'm sure that Luque(like he did in our first game played this season) and Eto'o are gonna be very dangerous and maybe a first major temptation for Marchena and Djukic.............
As we are entering the last lap in the title race there's gonna be more and more pressure untill the end......but I have to say , at least IMO that these two games(Mallorca and Depor) are probably going to be the crucial ones...I'm not trying to underestimate Betis,Espanyol and Malaga but IMO they just don't have enough motive(Betis situation is not clear yet though) plus the fact that we are playing two games at home (Betis isn't so impressive in their away games) and the home factor(with the great support players have) became a major one for us lately...........
good thing is that generally we play much much better lately (the game against Rayo is exception) and these two games are going to be the real test for our scoring abilities.....the game against Real alone isn't really a valid sample................
I don't think that we're going to see changes in the lineup from the one that faced Real last week..........maybe there is just one dilemma : Kily or Vicente..............
Here are some results from the latest clashes(just to point out how hard ist gonna be to get a victory) between two clubs (taken from the official site):
02/12/2001 Valencia 1- Mallorca 1
-04/02/2001 Mallorca 2- Valencia 2
-17/09/2000 Valencia 4- Mallorca 0
-26/03/2000 Valencia 1- Mallorca 0
-07/11/1999 Mallorca 1- Valencia 0
So, that's at least part of the formula how to play against Mallorca.....try to stop Ibagaza(unfortunately I don't think that he can repeat two horrible games in a row) and to take advantage of their pretty slow defence( Nadal, Soler)....
On the other hand we are not in position to sit back and wait for the opportunities in counters so I'm sure that Luque(like he did in our first game played this season) and Eto'o are gonna be very dangerous and maybe a first major temptation for Marchena and Djukic.............
As we are entering the last lap in the title race there's gonna be more and more pressure untill the end......but I have to say , at least IMO that these two games(Mallorca and Depor) are probably going to be the crucial ones...I'm not trying to underestimate Betis,Espanyol and Malaga but IMO they just don't have enough motive(Betis situation is not clear yet though) plus the fact that we are playing two games at home (Betis isn't so impressive in their away games) and the home factor(with the great support players have) became a major one for us lately...........
good thing is that generally we play much much better lately (the game against Rayo is exception) and these two games are going to be the real test for our scoring abilities.....the game against Real alone isn't really a valid sample................
I don't think that we're going to see changes in the lineup from the one that faced Real last week..........maybe there is just one dilemma : Kily or Vicente..............
Here are some results from the latest clashes(just to point out how hard ist gonna be to get a victory) between two clubs (taken from the official site):
02/12/2001 Valencia 1- Mallorca 1
-04/02/2001 Mallorca 2- Valencia 2
-17/09/2000 Valencia 4- Mallorca 0
-26/03/2000 Valencia 1- Mallorca 0
-07/11/1999 Mallorca 1- Valencia 0