Picture the scene, Mallorca, trying to win a game that would go a long way to ease their relegation problems after going behind in the 56th minute, substitute Moutinho for a tiring Salomao. With his first touch Moutinho takes a free kick, only for man of the match Jon Ansotegi's to see his powerful header clatter off the crossbar. Once again, for the sixth time in eight games, the woodwork had denied Mallorca a goal. Ten minutes later, Moutinho was heavily involved again, his shot from outside the area beat Herrera in the home goal all ends up.
The bar suddenly woke up and the Mallorca song took centre stage. I thought – wait a minute, this is a wee bit too early (with only minutes left) for celebrations, knowing our susceptibility to conceding late goals. With time running out we should have wound the clock down with time-wasting tactics, play it into the corners, or better still, kick the ball into the car park, anything to hold on to a better-than-nothing point. Instead we made the mistake of trying to go for an unlikely winner. With two minutes left, Cabrero saved a net-bound shot with his legs and it looked like we just might hang on. Then - heartbreak - Huesca substitute Vinicius swung over a cross and 6ft 2in Gonzalez easily out-jumped 5ft 6in Angelino to score with a free header. Where were our centre halves ? When that went in, I've never seen 150-ish people leave a building so quickly, it was like a fire drill exercise, what a bitter pill it was to swallow.
Summing up: The repercussions of yet another sorry loss turned the local sports pages yesterday into vitriol of biblical proportions. It was a breathtaking finale, but too many of our players didn't look up for a relegation scrap. Any optimism I've been harbouring over the past month has quickly evaporated after Saturday's defeat. Coach Javier Olaizola looked a man in turmoil. He changed his playing system twice in the game and still doesn't look like he has any idea how to get Mallorca out of the mire. His record so far - eleven points from a possible 39 - is worse than his predecessor Fernando Vazquez. It remains to be seen if he holds on to his job, the feeling in the bar after the game with what few were left was that his days are numbered. However, nobody came up with an answer as to who could be his replacement with only 12 games left.
Social media announced on Sunday that there was to be an extraordinary SOS emergency meeting of supporters clubs at the Son Moix last night to discuss the club's present predicament. One loyal fan was apoplectic, saying after the game on Saturday: “We've got no leadership, can't defend, can't attack, and can't create. We're playing direction-less, clueless football. It's embarrassing watching this.”
It's not just the coach who's to blame, our director of football and general manager have cobbled together a poor squad which is not up for the task involved.
Next it's La Segunda champions-in-waiting and runaway leaders Levante at home on Saturday. Mathematically, with them being ten points ahead at the top, they could win the league that evening. They bring with them La Segunda's leading scorer, Roger (18 goals), and ex-Mallorca player, Algaida-born Victor Casadesus.
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Not sure all the players are passionless, are they clueless, or does the fault lie with Manager who is clueless when it comes to tactics?. Seem to have a lot of possession but unable to do anything with it. Run around a lot, get nowhere, then tire, lose concentration and let the opposition score. Also-surely there must be some B team players scoring goals who are worth a run out, can't be any worse than current strikers.
This is the worst Mallorca team in a generation. The new owners are a joke. We have the current worst run of form with 2 points out of the last 15. The team are clueless and passionless. We are effectively 4 points off safety given goal difference, so thats only another 10 games to get those points. Nope im afraid they are deservedly doomed. I for one wont watch tgem anymore and just watch those attendances drop from 7k to 2k next year. Certain insolvency looms after the drop. I am sure we will change the manager again in the next 2 weeks for another non entity. You know your team is bad when they have had more managers than wins! Very depressing.