Villarreal vs Mallorca: La Liga Preview

I think I’m at a point where I can write off the Elche debacle as all the absences finally taking their toll on this roster. I’m a little encouraged by the fact that Real Madrid had about as much trouble with Elche as we did (though both sides were rotated) and I think that once we get our players back from AFCON, once Danjuma gets his ankle right, and once we are clear of any COVID complications this team will be back to the offensive machine it was just a couple weeks ago.

Trouble is, those things won’t be fixed in time for Mallorca.

Our Opponents

We’ve beaten Mallorca three times in a row at home in La Liga, but we’ve lost to them two out of the last four times we’ve played them overall. We drew them 0-0 last time out while missing Gerard and Parejo. Mallorca haven’t won in the Valencian Community since 2010.

Fortunately, we catch Mallorca in one of their worst forms of the season, having lost three matches in a row and failing to score in their last two. No one in their side has more than three goals so far this season and they’ve tried a lot of different lineups without success. In Villarreal interests, Fer Nino is having a very disappointing loan spell there, while Jaume Costa has been a bit more successful. Take Kubo is failing there in much the same way that he failed here, once again reinforcing the fact that he’s not really a La Liga quality player.

Villarreal

Can we get enough of our first choice players together to get a win? That, ultimately, is what I think the decider is here. We are deeper than a lot of teams in a lot of positions, but we are still a bit overly dependent on a few star players. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, I just think it’s reality for a club with our resources and when those guys are missing it’s hard to make things run as they should.