Match Reports

Fellow Malaga CF followers,
It has not been a happy year so far for the blanquiazuls, Malaga having not recorded a win in any competition in 2004. After storming up La Liga to within a point of a Champion's League place towards the end of 2003, for a number of reasons, they have lost their way a little bit. The main reason for me though is that Manager Juande has stuck by and large to the same 11 throughout the first half of the season, but since the New Year, he has been forced to make changes due to suspensions and injuries. The eleven who have carried the fight so far have been, in a 4-1-4-1 formation:
Goalkeeper: Calatayud
Defence: Josemi, Litos, Fernando Sanz, Valcarce
Anchor: Romero
Midfield: Edgar, Insua, Michel Angel, Duda
Striker: Salva
In last week's away defeat to Villarreal, the team showed four changes form the "normal" eleven: Valcarce was replaced by Rojas, Romero by right winger Gerardo, with Salva replaced by Canabal and Diego Alonso up front in a new 4-4-2 line-up. Team: Calatayud, Josemi, Litos, Fernando Sanz, Rojas, Gerardo, Insua, Michel Angel, Duda, Diego Alonso and Canabal.
The biggest surprise last week was the omission of Salva, as although he has the touch and finesse of a carthorse, was still La Liga's third top scorer on 9 goals, behind Ronaldo (Real Madrid) on 15 and F Torres (Atletico Madrid) on 12. Despite last week's defeat Manager Juande saw enough promise in the play to predict that Malaga would soon overcome the current slump and with two back to back home matches against Valladolid this week and next Sunday's encounter against table-toppers Valencia, the team would show a return to winning form.
Today's opponents, Valladolid sat 10th equal with Malaga, both on 26 points, so a close fought match was in prospect. This was to be Helen's first visit to La Roseleda, courtesy of Geoff's season ticket, as Geoff and Sheila are back in England for a short while. Helen was quite looking forward to the match having enjoyed the experience 2 weeks ago when we visited Sevilla and saw Malaga go down to Betis.
Juande again made changes to the team (3 this time) to try and find that elusive first win this year. First surprise for me was the return of Arnau in goal, after being out since October with an injured arm, as young Calatayud had made a very favourable impression as Arnau's deputy. Rojas again retained his place at left back, with Romero returning in place of Insua, who dropped to the bench. Gerardo retained the right wing berth and Salva also returned, with a strike partner of Canabal in a 4-1-3-2 line-up. Team: Arnau, Josemi, Litos, Fernando Sanz, Rojas, Gerardo, Romero, Michel Angel, Duda, Salva and Canabal.
Malaga kicked off in 20C sunshine, with sunhats and sunglasses the order of the day with the bright sun still high at five o'clock. Within 8 minutes Valladolid had to make a substitution with main striker, Makukula, having to go off after a strong challenge by Sanz. After about ten minutes of play the strategy of the two teams seemed quite apparent. Malaga were the pressing team with their opponents quite content to pack their defence and depend on quick breakaways, particularly down their right wing through Sales, who gave Rojas a roasting all afternoon and their quick striker, Losada, whose twists and turns seemed to get Sanz in a fankle more than once. Arnau in goal looked a bit shaky after having been out for so long and Malaga's defence, normally their strongest suit, seemed to panic when the Valladolid front men ran at them. Although Sanz and Litos generally won the battle in the air or even in the tackle, they seemed not able to clear their lines properly and put themselves under unnecessary pressure.
However, it was the overlapping Rojas, put through via a delightful backheel by Duda, who reached the by-line and squared for SALVA to tap in at the far post to make it 1-0 after 23 minutes.
Malaga had most of the possession in the first half and Valladolid rarely looked like creating any chances except for one shot from Losada which Arnau had to clear the cobwebs away and make a diving save to his left. However, it was a mistake from Sanz almost on halftime, failing to clear, out on the left touchline, which led to the equaliser. The speedy Sales raced to the touchline and sent in a cross which was backheeled by Losada to OSCAR, lurking on the 18 yard line, who promptly sent a screamer into the back of the net, to a hushed crowd. Halftime 1-1.
It is a feature of games in Spain that teams do not have large travelling support, due to the games being played on Sunday nights and the large distances involved. However, the absolute silence which greets away goals still takes a bit of getting used to- especially when the ground is pretty much at capacity and the noise levels are high during normal play. Quite surreal.
Within 10 minutes after the restart Malaga made two changes, local hero Manu came on for the disappointing Gerardo and Diego Alonso less obviously for Canabal. Whilst Malaga was adapting to these changes, Valladolid took the lead when, after another mix-up between Sanz and Arnau, OSCAR nipped in to score his personal and his team's second. Score 1-2.
Valladolid seemed content to waste time and hang onto this lead even though there was still half an hour to play. A sense of frustration crept in to Malaga's play and the next fifteen minutes or so was very scrappy with too many interruptions to play for niggly fouls. One such was awarded to Valladolid with ten minutes to go, thirty yards out. Centre back and Roman Emperor JULIO CESAR stepped up and hammered the ball towards goal. It seemed to cannon off a few players like a bagatelle ball before nestling in the Arnau's bottom right hand corner. 1-3.
Juande made his third substitution by bringing on Insua for Romero to give the team more of an attacking bias. Many "fans" started to leave at this point, although I've never seen the value of missing any minutes of a match. Those who left missed an excellent Malaga counter. The third Valladolid goal seemed to wake Malaga up and they changed up three gears to try and salvage something from the game. Manu finally realised that he had got a game and was on the pitch. He received a 20 yard pass from Insua out wide on the right wing and evaded two tackles, the second fortuitously with the ball breaking into the penalty box. Manu got there first and sent a powerful cross to the back post where our hero SALVA came rushing in to head a great goal past the hapless Bizarri to make the score 2-3. The remainder of the game was very exciting as Malaga piled on the pressure for a deserved equaliser, but the referee blew for full time before this could be realised.
So another disappointing result for Malaga. Their next two games could not be tougher - Valencia at home and then away to Real Madrid. However, they are starting to slide down the table and need to collect some points soon if the early season promise is not going to turn into a fight for La Liga survival.
Canizares is the goalie with the best record in the league to date, having only conceded 14 goals in 20 matches. Hopefully Salva and co can do some damage to this proud record next weekend. Your Malaga CF correspondent will be there, be assured.