Match Reports

After being thrashed 3-0 away to Villarreal on Sunday, it was back to La Roseleda for Wednesday night's match against Real Sociedad, the team from San Sebastian, the capital of the Basque Country on the Bay of Biscay coast in the north of Spain.
This is the last game of the year as La Liga enters a three week break over the festive period, with the next match away to Racing Santander on 09 January 2005.
Since the last home game, Sarafin Roldan, the President of Malaga CF, has stated that money would be made available to Manzano to obtain two new strikers, as the present crisis has been blamed on the lack of availability and fitness of the two transatlantic strikers, Wanchope (Costa Rica) and Amoroso (Brazil) who have been playing for their countries in World Cup qualifiers and friendlies. Four names have been toted, of whom two are Spanish, one is Egyptian and the fourth a "Spanish/Brazilian". We shall wait and see.
In the meantime, Manzano has to pick his team up from the defeat by the Yellow Submarines of Villarreal and face Sociedad, a squad who is bristling with talent, including the Serbian, Kovacevic, the little Turk, Nihat, and the excellent Ukrainian winger, Karpin. During the close season, Manager Amorrortu has reinforced his squad with the signings of defenders Brechet and Rossato and the midfielder, signed from Glasgow Rangers, Arteta, who was arguably the Light Blues' best player last season.
As Geoff and I were taking our seats (with Sheila and Helen along for their Christmas present from us), the team came out to warm up and it became apparent that both Duda and Luque were missing, so who was going to play down the left wing? Both Alexis and Gerardo were on view, with Edgar also chosen, so we had three right sided players who can play on the wing and no left equivalent. This was Manzano trying something different and the team lined up in a very unfamiliar 4-4-3 formation: Calatayud, Alexis, Fernando Sanz, Juanito and Valcarce, Gerardo, Romero and Miguel Angel, Edgar, Wanchope and Amoroso.
Real Sociedad (4-2-3-1): Alberto, Rekarte, Labaka, Rossato and Garrido, Aranburu and Mikel Alonso, Karpin, Gabilondo and Nihat, Kovacevic.
Malaga win the toss and Sociedad kick off, defending the Fondo end. But it's Malaga who look most urgent and keen to be on the ball with the Basques on the back foot. But it's 6 minutes before the first shot on goal. First Alexis takes a throw-in on the right to Edgar, who slides a great cross to the feet of Amoroso, but the shot goes just past.
Two minutes later it's the Brazilian again, this time supplied by Miguel Angel, who seems to have taken up a wide left berth. This is not his natural or best position, so there was some murmurings from the supporters about this selection. However, he found Amoroso's right foot and the shot had to be saved and pushed away for a corner. Miguel Angel takes the kick but fails to beat the first defender.
It's all Malaga as they press forward for an early opening goal which would settle their nerves and regain some confidence. They push forward and at another corner in 11' they are caught cold as the defence clear to little Nihat who races into the open spaces provided by the absent Malaga defence. He slips the ball to Rossato who has raced out of defence to support the attack. He whips the ball across to the unmarked KOVACEVIC whose clever header eludes Calatayud to make it 0-1. This was literally Sociedad's first attack and shot on goal in the match.
Malaga 0 Real Sociedad 1
This stunned Malaga, but they continued to plod away. Miguel Angel looked increasingly uneasy out on the left wing, being forced to make passes and crosses with his less favoured left foot. The weak attempts are easily mopped up by the giant Labaka, in particular.
In 13', Calatayud makes his first save, diving full length to his left to push away a freekick from Rossato.
In 19' Sociedad again threaten on the counterattack and the dangerous Kovacevic is one on one with Calatayud, but the Serb's lob is just over.
In 21' Gerardo takes a quick freekick on the right and pushes the ball into space in front of Wanchope, but he easily outpaced by the imposing centre back Labaka.
More danger for Malaga in 27' when Karpin's cross again finds Kovacevic free in front of goal. He shoots straight at Calatayud, who can only push the ball straight back to the big striker. The Serb tries again, but this time Calatayud gathers the ball safely.
The following minute, Miguel Angel pulls his shot wide after another quick Gerardo freekick.
In 30' Amoroso is chopped down in front of the dugout and Manager Manzano is warned for complaining when the referee plays on.
In 32' Wanchope uses some slick close control to weave past two defenders and surviving a scything tackle in the process. He found himself clear in the box and was about to pull the trigger, when the referee stopped play and brought the action back to where the lanky striker had been fouled. Gerardo takes the kick but the ball comes off the wall.
In 36' there is some good wing play by Edgar down the right but he is brought down. Gerardo takes the freekick but it misses everybody and goes across the field and out for a throw.
In 40' Valcarce appears on the right wing! The left back advances towards the box where he is brought down by Labaka. Gerardo again takes the kick and again it misses everybody in the crowded area. This time VALCARCE (who has returned to his more customary place wide on the left) rescues the ball before it goes out for a throw, takes it almost to the line and whips in a cross which flies over Alberto's flailing arms and into the net at the far post.
Malaga 1 Sociedad 1
Half time comes with the scores level and remarkably no cards have been shown - a first this season at La Roseleda.
Malaga kick off and Romero finds Amoroso through the middle but his shot is tipped over for a corner which is cleared.
Malaga continue to press forward and Alberto has to dive full length to keep Romero's piledriver out after Wanchope's effort is miscleared.
In 50' Alberto has to be quick off his line to take the ball away from Amoroso who is put through by Edgar.
The next minute, Gerardo is felled on the left wing deep inside Sociedad's half. Malaga expect the whistle for the freekick, but it does not come. Karpin is first to react and hares down the wing into big open spaces. He whips in his centre to find the big KOVACEVIC unmarked and the striker makes no mistake to make it 1-2
Malaga 1 Sociedad 2
In 59' Sociedad make another rare attack and Nihat's shot is blocked by Alexis for a corner. The Turk takes the kick himself and it finds the head of LABAKA to make it 1-3 for the visitors.
Malaga 1 Sociedad 3
At this point, tensions in the crowd spilled over and many supporters around the directors' box in the centre of the stand made their protests loud and clear to Roldan and the other board members and shouts of "Manzano out" and "No politics, just more players". Scenes started to get a little ugly as riot police in full gear ran to the directors' box to protect the board members. As the riot police took their places, a torrent of empty plastic Coke bottles rained in on Roldan and his colleagues.
Meanwhile on the park, nothing was going right for the beleaguered Malaga team. With 21 players in the Sociedad half, the ball breaks to NIHAT who runs towards the goal and easily beats Calatayud with an excellent shot.
Malaga 1 Sociedad 4
Things go from bad to worse when the referee produced his first card of the game in 77' (in fact the only card of the game) and it's a red one! Gerardo is sent off for a tackle, which failed to make any contact, but with studs showing.
In 80' Karpin again shows his pace, skill and accuracy down the right wing. In yet another break from defence, the winger has no one in front of him as he runs into Malaga's half. This time he finds NIHAT on his own and the little striker taps the ball home to make it 1-5 and complete the rout.
With angry scenes around the Director's Box and decreasing interest on events on the park, the referee blew for full-time with no stoppage time added on.
Full time Malaga 1 Sociedad 5

This result finds Malaga at their lowest point in their La Liga history where they have been established in the top half since their promotion from La Segunda. This performance is easily the worst I've witnessed in the season and half I have been coming to Malaga matches. The team selection was poor, with players asked to play out of their normal position and in a 4-4-3 formation which has been tried here with these players and failed. The two strikers looked tired and unfit and it remains to be seen whether Manzano will survive into the New Year. I think he will and will try to introduce some new faces into the squad in the January window. The season is not yet half way through, so it is a little early to write them off just yet. Having said that, last year at this time they were in sixth place with essentially the same team and we were dreaming of possible European football here this season.
Next home game is against local Andalucian rivals, Sevilla. The White and Reds are currently lying third in La Liga after they went away to Real Madrid and beat them 0-1 at the Bernabau on Wednesday night. So not an easy start to 2005!
We wait to see what happens next as the season unfolds. Your Malaga CF Correspondent will be there.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!