On The Spot Report: Mallorca 0-0 Villarreal: Toothless Performance Ends in Stalemate

Four games played, four games drawn in La Liga this season for Unai Emery’s yellows. We went into this game hoping to finally end this winless run and beat a Mallorca side featuring Fer Nino, Jaume Costa and Take Kubo, three names very familiar to us.

The team started well, with Danjuma and Estupinan combining well down the left and Dia aiming to score his first goal in Villarreal colours. Fer Nino then somehow missed a glorious chance when left unmarked in the box.

The attack started to fade towards the end of the first half, then started the second period with no attacking intensity at all. On came 4 changes, including Paco Alcacer for his first minutes of the season, and after initially improving, there still remained a distinct lack of threat in the absence of Gerard Moreno.

There were half chances for both sides and a draw is probably a fair result, but Mallorca will certainly be the happier team.

Coquelin stood out for me as a player trying to make things happen, and linked play well especially with Danjuma. Danjuma had a decent showing in his first start, but could not provide the same finishing touch we saw against Atletico Madrid and Atalanta.

This was a big opportunity for Boulaye Dia to lead the line on his own without Gerard but he failed to score again. He had a couple of chances including a flick on following a great cross from Estupinan but failed to convert and will be disappointed with his performance today.

Up next for Villarreal is Elche at home on Wednesday night, before a trip to the Santiago Bernabeu to face Real Madrid next Saturday.