Villarreal 2-0 Real Mallorca

Real Mallorca’s good start to the season fast evaporated as they slipped to their third straight defeat to an unimpressive Villarreal in El Madrigal.

The main headline in Laudrup’s lineup was the missing Dutch right back Gianni Zuiverloon, who was replaced by Pau Cendrós and didn’t even make the bench. Víctor Casadesús came in for Tomer Hemed and Aki made his first start of the season on the left wing ahead of Alejandro Alfaro.

For Villarreal, both Borja Valero and Jonathan de Guzmán started against their former clubs.

The home side started with lightening pace, and just a couple of minutes in Nilmar raced past Iván Ramis and through on goal. He pushed the ball too far forward, however, and Dudu Aouate rushed out to claim possession.

Just moments later, Giuseppe Rossi then had a fantastic chance to open the scoring. Iván Ramis was again all too easily confused and beaten, but Rossi’s shot was turned away by Aouate.

Aouate’s luck quickly ran out, however. More terrible defending by Mallorca saw Rossi somehow manage to get in behind Chico. Rossi’s tame shot went straight through a poorly positioned Dudu Aouate and into the corner of the goal to give Villarreal a well deserved 1-0 lead after just seven minutes.

The same storyline played out for the remainder of the first half with the Yellow Submarine never out of control of the game.

For Villarreal’s second in the second half, a high defensive line was once again easily prized apart by the home side. Borja Valero’s inch perfect ball saw Nilmar in behind Ramis. Not for the first time, Ramis looked completely out of his depth and more appalling positioning from Dudu Aouate gave Nilmar the simple choice of taking it round the Israeli and sliding the ball into an empty net.

Los Bermellones did get the ball into the back of the net. A fantastic cross by Sergio Tejera saw Emilio Nsue rise above the Villarreal defence to win the header and place it into the corner of the goal. Unfortunately for Mallorca, the assistant referee correctly identified Nsue as being offside for Tejera’s cross.

Víctor then had a chance when he headed the ball over Diego López. It needed a touch from substitute Alejandro Alfaro but Zapata cleared off the line.

It was a simple victory for a Villarreal side who didn’t really have to work for it. Considering their difficult start to the season, they will be thanking Mallorca for handing them three points and, more importantly, a confidence boost.

For Mallorca, losing to their new found rivals is not a problem. It won’t even be thought of twice. There are much bigger issues. In a team riddled with low confidence, the two players who could be relied upon for a stable performance can’t seem to be relied upon anymore. Ramis was poor. And Aouate’s mistakes have cost Mallorca points again. But how can they be expected to perform in a team in complete disarray?

Laudrup doesn’t have the answers. The rest of the world has the answer though. The Dane must leave. These three straight defeats through simple mistakes have shown that Laudrup has failed to put the problems of last season right over the summer.

When things are bad, you need a leader to lead you out of the problems. And they need to have a clear plan. Judging from Laudrup’s cliché-led interview responses, he doesn’t know what to do.

‘Other than the first 15 minutes, I’m happy,’ Laudrup said after the game. ‘I cannot see the future and you can never know what will happen tomorrow or next month. We need a goal, and every game that passes it gets worse because it becomes an obsession. We must keep working, there is no other way to score goals.’

Laudrup is in injury time.

Teams

Villarreal (4-4-2): Diego López; Mario, Zapata, Musacchio, Catalá; Borja Valero (Camuñas 71), Bruno, de Guzmán, Cani (Senna 62); Nilmar (Rubén 81), Rossi.
Substitutes: César (gk); Gonzalo, Marchena; Senna, Camuñas, Wakaso; Rubén.
Goals: Rossi 7; Nilmar 51.

Real Mallorca (4-2-3-1): Aouate; Cendrós, Ramis, Chico , Cáceres; Pina , Tissone  (Alfaro 64); Nsue, Tejera, Aki (Castro 71); Víctor.
Substitutes: Calatayud (gk); Martí Crespí, Kevin; Castro, Alfaro, João Victor; Hemed.

Referee: José González González (ESP)
Stadium: El Madrigal, Villarreal.
Attendance: 18,000.

You can watch highlights of the game thanks to IB3.