Málaga’s 2-1 defeat to Real Sociedad at La Rosaleda last Sunday saw the team plunge into the bottom three for the first time this season, prompting Qatari owner Sheikh Abdullah to finally lose patience with manager Jesualdo Ferreira. The loss to the txuri-urdin means the Costa del Sol side have not picked up a point at home in five games, and the former Porto boss has paid the price by being axed after just nine league games in charge.
It’s all a far cry from the mood of optimism which swept through the club only two months ago, the €17 million outlay on new players promising better times ahead for the long-suffering fans. After the game at the weekend the mood around the stadium was one of dejection, but despite the whistles and waving of pañuelos at the final whistle it seemed the fans were still prepared to give Ferreira more time to get it right. Not so the Sheikh, who decided to act before things deteriorated further.
Admittedly the fixture list hasn’t been kind; the first four fixtures at home - Valencia, Sevilla, Villarreal and Real Madrid - couldn’t have been much tougher, though Ferreira has possibly been the architect of his own downfall. Of his buys only Owusu-Abeiye and Rondón have come up to anything like scratch, while the jury is still out on the others - Sandro Silva, Sebástian Fernández and Malagueño, along with goalkeepers Galatto and Ruben - who have all been out injured at one time or another
The Osasuna away game two weeks ago was the first time this season the strikers have failed to hit the back of the net, so no complaints on that score, but the 21 goals conceded in just 9 games is totally unacceptable. Last year Málaga narrowly avoided going down by a single point, yet only conceded 48 goals; this was one less than fourth-placed Sevilla and only bettered by six teams in the division. However, Ferreira still felt the need to go out and buy two centre-backs in Stadsgaard and Malagueño (who is still to make his league debut), meaning the defence was top-heavy in that department. Youngster Iván González was a regular at the heart of the defence last season alongside Weligton - this year he has played a solitary game and hardly gets to sit on the bench! Ferreira obviously didn’t fancy him, but it doesn’t make it any less puzzling. .
To give Ferreira some credit his policy of playing a 4-3-3 attacking system - he employed it successfully at Porto - was admirable, as witnessed by the five goals in the opening 34 minutes at Zaragoza, yet when his team came under the cosh in certain games he didn’t have a Plan ‘B’ to fall back on. His tactics have also earned him a fair amount of criticism from local reporters - his miserable demeanour did not endear himself to them - and he fell out with a journalist from respected sports daily Marca when he refused to answer questions in a press conference, leading to the other assembled hacks walking out en masse.
The policy of buying up-and-coming young players instead of tried and trusted pros was always going to be a risky one, but it has still been a surprise that Sheikh Abdullah has lost faith after such a short time. Even so, he is a businessman and expects some kind of return on his investment, which is why he has reorganised the club from top to bottom.
At the moment Ferreira’s replacement looks certain to be ex-Real Madrid and Villarreal boss Manuel Pellegrini. Sources from Fox Sports television channel indicate that the Chilean will be flying into Málaga on Wednesday to finalise details on a two and a half year contract.
Courtesy of Dave Redshaw - (Author of ‘Málaga Football Club - The Story’)