La Liga Preview: Mallorca - Numancia

Winning promotion to the top flight brings with it the dream of playing against the best teams in the country on a level playing field and trying to cause a surprise against one or more of them. The problem for Numancia has been however, that those dreams have come almost all at once sa they were handed a very difficult start to their return to la Primera.

Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villarreal were lined up for coach Sergio Kresic and his players to truly test their mettle after bouncing back to the top flight at the end of last term. All the summer celebrations and subsequent planning and wheeling and dealing would be severely put to the test by the top three sides in the first division at the end of last season.

Things could not have started any better for the Soria-based outfit though, than they did when the Blaugrana visited Los Parajitos on the opening day and were sent away with their tails betweent heir legs thanks to a solitary goal from Mario was enough to send the local side into wonderland. A determined defensive performance ensured that all three points were secured along with the surprise of the weekend.

Two weeks later Numancia held their own in the Bernabéu and were beaten by the odd-goal in seven against a Real Madrid side that required an own goal to win the game. Vilarreal may have then been seen as, arguably, the weakest of three teams that Numancia had to face, but over the two incredible openers they again showed that they can cause even the best problems, despite losing at home to the Yellow Submarine.

Now comes the acid test with Numancia knowing that if they are to stay among the big boys for longer than one campaign then they will have to start picking up points against the sides that have also been tipped to struggle and, whether rightly or wrongly, Real Mallorca are always included in that category despite a very encouraging performance last season.

While a top ten placing last term should have pointed the way towards better things, as is the norm, the bigger clubs decided that the Balearic club's stars were an attractive proposition. Fernando Navarro, Ariel Ibagaza, Jonás Gutiérrez, Dani Güiza and Borja Valero all left and swelled the club's bank balance, but that list of names was always going to be difficult to replace.

Coach Gregorio Manzano is well aware that finances must always be carefully balanced at the Son Moix outfit, but even he must have been surprised tha quite so many outstanding offers were made in the same summer break for his players. Several new faces have been brought in, but it is not only unknonw yet whether they can be as good but also whether they wil be able to gel with each other.

The start of the season has not been particularly encouraging with two draws and a defeat, but the point earned in a goalless game at Deportivo last weekend could be seen as a step in the right direction, given the fact that they had previously been beaten by Valencia in Mestalla before Osasuna earned a point from a visit to Mallorca.

RECENT FORM

Real Mallorca

Sep 21 A 0-0 Deportivo
Sep 14 H 1-1 Osasuna
Aug 30 A 0-3 Valencia
Aug 09 A 1-1 WBA
Aug 03 H 1-0 Newcastle
Aug 01 A 4-2 Hannover


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