Match Reports

Big changes at Malaga CF this week as the January transfer window is almost over. Malaga's fans had been hoping to see a clearout of the deadwood brought in by the previous management last summer and some fresh blood brought in to reinforce the squad and take the team out of the middle of the table and up towards the three promotion spots.

However, the club is in voluntary administration as the new owners struggle to come to terms with the 26m euro debts they were left with and are trying through the courts to identify all the creditors and debtors and then to resolve the matters accordingly. In short, there is no real money available for Muniz to attract players to the club.

Even getting rid of unwanted players under contract is not easy and four of them (Chengue Morales, OJ Morales, Romero and Manu) will await the court's decision on 8 March 2007 in response to their compensation claims. The struggling Malaga B side, languishing at the bottom of Segunda B and costing Malaga dearly, has released eight players, including Saul, who enjoyed some first team action this season, particularly under former manager, Marcos Alonso.

But the big news this week is the transfer of top scorer Salva to first division Levante, on loan until the end of the season. Levante will pay Salva's 1.2m euro salary and also a fee of 100,000 euros for the striker's services.

With Salva gone and the only other first team striker, Counago, out again injured, Muniz will have to rearrange his team formation from his defensive 4-1-4-1 set up to suit the players he has available. With Malaga B striker, Ador, and four Malaga C (under 18) players (Popo, Lobato, Francis and Plata) training this week with the first team, Muniz is having to look at the resources available to him within the club. Ador, Popo, Lobato and Francis have already played for the first team this season and Popo and Francis in particular look full of promise and it won't be long before 9 goals so far this season striker, 17 years old Plata, also gets his chance.

But when the team lined up yesterday to play against Hercules (from Alicante, Costa Blanca) there was a real surprise for me. From the defensive 4-1-4-1 line-up, which has gone a long way to stopping losing stupid goals (particularly with the inclusion of Jesule in central defence and getting rid of Cesar Navas), Muniz went for an attacking 4-3-3 line-up! Hercules lie in 8th place, four places and four points above Malaga. This is the sort of game that Malaga should be winning, especially at home, if they still have any pretensions about promotion. So, I suppose, Muniz had to go for it.

Malaga (4-3-3): Arnau; Jesus Gamez, Armando, Jesule and Valcarce; Sandro, Silva and Hidalgo; Perico, Popo and Jonaton Valle.

Malaga kick off defending the Fondo end goal. In the first minute, Sandro is brought down 30 yards out central to the goal. He takes the kick himself and hits the wall.
In 3' Hidalgo is the first player booked for a two footed foul.
Malaga's front men 5'3" Popo and 5'4" Jonaton Valle are being dwarfed by the Hercules defenders who are all giants!
In 7' there is hope that the new format has real promise. All three front men are happy to try and dribble past defenders and run with the ball. Jonaton Valle passes square to Perico who runs into the box, forcing the Hercules defender to give away a corner. From Hidalgo's corner, Armando's header just goes over.
It's 11' before Hercules have a real goal attempt. The ball falls to ex-Malaga player De Los Santos 30 yards out and his powerful drive goes well over.
In 14' the running power of Malaga's front players is again demonstrated. First Popo runs with the ball and is fouled; the ball breaks to Jonaton Valle so the referee allows advantage. Then Jonaton Valle is fouled, the ball breaks to Perico; again the advantage is allowed. However, when Perico is fouled, a free kick is awarded. Sandro takes the kick to find Jonaton Valle, but the wee man is easily bustled off the ball by the Herculean defender.
In 22' Hercules number nine Moises breaks through but shoots straight at Arnau, who instead of making an easy catch, parries it away for a throw-in.
In 23' De Los Santos is booked for a foul on Jesus Gamez.
In 24' Malaga's best move so far. Perico dribbles past three Hercules players and passes square to Popo. The youngster's route is blocked so he in turn passes square to Jesus Gamez. The full back pulls the trigger and his shot is just tipped over by visiting goalkeeper, Agassa. Great move and great save!
Jesus Gamez and Valcarce, the two full backs are enjoying a lot of space down the flanks and their overlapping provides the width that is missing from the midfield in a 4-3-3 system.
In 27' Perico is booked for dissent after he is fouled in midfield.
In 28' Hercules show their teeth with a good run by Carmelo down the right wing. He gets past Valcarce and sends in a great cross for Sendido, who heads over with Arnau beaten.
In 29' Popo is fouled by Graff, who is booked.
In 31' Arnau makes a save from a Moises header and throws the ball to Jesus Gamez. The full back runs unchallenged the full length of the park and again forces Agassa to make another fine save to concede a corner. As the ball from Sandro's corner enters the box, Armando collides with Agassa and the goalkeeper needs some treatment.
In 34' it's a similar story down the left wing but after a good run, Valcarce's pass to Perico is just intercepted.
In 37' it's Perico and Valcarce again down the left wing. This time Hidalgo is presented with a scoring chance but Agassa makes the save look easy.
Malaga are dominating the game and the new formation seems to be working well. However, there is no cutting edge in the opposing penalty box and all the good lead-up play, although nice to watch and crowd pleasing, is not delivering the goals needed to finish off the pretty poor opposition that Hercules have shown so far

Half time Malaga 0 Hercules 0

Malaga resume where they left off and force two shots in the first minute. First Jonaton Valle's shot goes wide when he should have done better. Then Hidalgo also shoots wide.
It's fair to say that Agassa is the busier keeper and he's also making some fine saves. He has to dive full length to save from Jonaton Valle at his far post in 49'. It's also fair to say that Jonaton Valle is also having what is probably his best game so far for Malaga.
In 50' Silva is booked for a foul on Carmelo, who has been Hercules' most threatening player.
In 56' Perico's run down the left wing ends with a cut back to Valcarce. Malaga's captain has options but goes for a curling shot which only just does not curl enough to end up in the back of the net and goes wide of the far post.
In 58' Valcarce has another chance but this time he skies over.
In 59' Ador comes on for Popo.
In 60' Sendido kicks the ball out of Arnau's hands. Arnau is incensed and chases after Sendido. The referee books them both.
In 61' Sendido is substituted for Nadal.
In 65' Hidalgo spots Jonaton Valle's run through the inside left channel and delivers an inch perfect pass. The wee man is through on the keeper and we're all rising to our collective feet behind the goal as he runs towards us. He lets rips a powerful shot on the run but unfortunately the ball goes just wide of the far post.
In 66' Ernesto comes on for Perico.
In 67' Carmelo is given a straight red card and sent off after Silva had beaten him to the ball and was running off with it. The winger ran after Silva and took his legs away to send the midfielder crashing to the ground.
So here we are again. Enjoying the lion's share of the ball, creating plenty of chances and now playing against 10 men with their most effective player sent off. Can Malaga press home this advantage? If they do, it will be a first!
With a genuine winger on the pitch now with left sided Ernesto, we start to see some runs down the wing followed by dangerous crosses into the box.
Ernesto's first effort in 68' though is too close to Agassa and the goalkeeper leaps and gathers the cross comfortably.
In 69' Muniz makes another change. He brings on Edgar for Silva and the team go to a very attacking 4-2-4 formation as Malaga go all out to get the three points. Edgar goes wide right, Ernesto wide left, with Ador and Jonaton Valle through the centre.
In 74' Hercules substitute Ariel for Albacar.
In 76' Edgar comes close with an attempted lob over the centre back. However it just hits the top of the defender's head and ball lands agonisingly on the roof of the net.
Ernesto is taking the corners from the left now and he sends in a curling one which is just stopped on the line by Agassa.
Jesus Gamez sees his header go wide from another Ernesto corner in 82'.
In 85' Sandro knocks a clever pass through for Ador to run clear onto, but the striker is ruled offside.
Full-time Malaga 0 Hercules 0

So another frustrating evening for the fans (and the team too, no doubt). This was definitely another two points lost at home. If these draws in which Malaga have been so dominant and held the majority of possession had been turned into 1-0 wins......... this would be an entirely different season.
So we came away from the game, yet again, not happy with the result. We are resigning ourselves now to the fact that promotion this season is looking out of reach for this squad. The local paper SUR suggested that Malaga would need 72 points to gain promotion (they now have 28) so with 20 games to go, they would need to win 15 of them! Levante did something similar last season so it can be done, but unless a miracle happens and suddenly all the breaks go Malaga's way, being realistic all we can hope for are some good performances and bring on some of the younger players ready for next year.

Next week, Malaga are away to "promotion rivals" Alaves, who were also relegated last year along with Malaga and Cadiz. It's live on Spanish TV with a Saturday evening kick-off time of 18:30h. Never fear, Your Malaga CF Correspondent will be watching avidly!

Crime Count:
Malaga 4 yellows: Hidalgo, Perico, Silva and Arnau
Hercules 3 yellows: De los Santos, Graff and Sendido. 1 red: Carmelo.