La Letdown: Málaga's Slow Start

One thing we have all learned about Russian oligarchs and Emirate Sheikhs is that when it comes to owning football clubs they’re not a patient bunch. Long term plans and talk of building for sustainability are always bandied around when one of them forks out for a new club, but ultimately these purchases are for amusement proposes and instant success is insisted upon.

At the end of his first season as Chelsea owner in 2004, Roman Abramovich handed Claudio Ranieri his P45 despite the jovial Italian getting the side to second place in the league and as far as the Champions League semi-finals. Since then the revolving door policy at the West London club has seen a total of seven different managers come and go. Man City boss Mark Hughes faced a similar fate to Ranieri when, irrespective of assurances to the contrary, he was sent packing by new owner, Sheikh Mansour as results didn’t go the Sky Blues’ way. In France more recently Antoine Kombouare also fell victim to this unforgiving nature of high expectations as PSG’s Qatari owners had him clear his desk to make way for Carlo Ancelotti.

Club owner, Sheikh Al Thani uses too much starch washing his jersey

Sheikh Al Thani at Malaga was no exception to this rule when he first took over the reins at Malaga, sacking Jesualdo Ferreira, the man he had only just hired, as the nine results under the former Porto coach weren’t to the Qatari billionaire’s satisfaction. Since then, however, los Albicelestes have done anything but shine – finishing in a paltry 11^th place last season and this time round trailing the likes of Levante and Osasuna in 7^th - yet they have held onto the same manager, Manuel Pellegrini.

This U-turn by Al Thani to a more “easy come, easy go” approach to things is a curious one. Clearly he sees something in ‘El Ingeniero’ (the Engineer) and, in fairness, the Chilean’s track record has definitely earned him enough street cred within la Primera división to merit such faith: his enormously successful five year spell at Villarreal put the tiny club on the map and many people viewed his dismissal by Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez as overly harsh, considering the club finished the 2009/10 season on 96 points.

All the same, having splashed out €58 million during the summer transfer window alone, not to mention the €7.3 million spent last January on Diego Buonanotte (€3.8m), Julio Baptista (€2m) and Ignacio Camacho (€1.5m), you’d expect to see the Rosaleda side sit above Levante, a club that has spent a mere €400,000 in the last four years on players.

New faces: Van Nistelrooy, Bounanotte, Toulalan, Monreal,  Sergio Sanchez, Joaquín, Mathijsen

Where the acquisitions by Chelsea, Man City and PSG were done with a view to challenging for the Premier League and Ligue 1 titles straight away, Malaga was never under any illusions as to what it’s objectives should be. Even with a war chest big enough to rival any other club in the world, the Costa del Sol club knows competing with Real Madrid and Barcelona is a faraway ambition, for now European football and establishing an identity are the twin goals.

So far the first of these targets is still attainable, mainly because of the inconsistencies of the other teams around them battling it out for fourth spot, so whether they scrape it into the Champion League or have to settle for a Europa League spot remains to be seen.

As far as carving out an identity is concerned though, malaguistas shouldn't  hold their breath, unless of course flat and uninspired are what they were after in the first place. Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss at the hands of Real Madrid was a good example of this. Although they are still in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey, this defeat put a huge psychological dent in their chances of progressing any further in the competetion. They head into next week’s second leg having thrown away a two nil half time lead during a 10 minute frenzy in the second half, in which Mou’s side battered down Willy Cabellero’s goal, scoring three times, which could easily have been more. Even if they beat Madrid in the return leg, a particularly unfavourable draw would see them face Barcelona in the quarters, unless of course Osasuna pull off a miracle against Spain’s sturdiest defence by scoring five times without reply next week.

During the summer there was no shortage of opinion and discussion about Pellegrini’s signings, while he spent big, he didn’t buy extravagantly, choosing instead to marry up-and-coming talent with “been there, done that” assuredness. Sure Santi Cazorla and, to a lesser extent, Isco are fantastic players capable of changing games but the majority of the new signings were brought in because of their vast experience: before turning grey, Toulalan’s hair had been gracing Ligue 1 since the start of the millenium, Van Nistelrooy has been around longer than many land forms have, Mathijsen and Demichelis are no spring chickens nor is la liga stable Joaquín, who is now enjoying his 11^th season in the Spanish top flight.

But Tuesday night’s performance wasn’t the only time these accomplished players have pissed away a lead this season. Remember the start of December when Real Sociedad snatched all three points from them in the final minutes, scoring twice to win 3-2.

Diego Ifran cooly slots past Willy 

So what is the explanation for such lacklustre performances from these already established names? Well the word “mercenaries” may account for some of the problem. As with any takeover, when new faces start arriving questions about club loyalty are naturally raised. Many of the new recruits brushed aside accusations of being lured solely by the money by pointing to the long-term project within the club: improving the training facilities, investing in youth development etc. So perhaps it’s presumptuous to call them “guns for hire” but this lack of sting in Malaga’s tail has gone on longer than a simple case of a gelling in period can account for.

Creativity is a glaring problem and 20 goals in 16 league games is a noteworthy statistic for the wrong reasons. Baptista’s absence has definitely coincided with the club’s austere spell in front of the net and now there are hints of discontent within the dressing room, which can only go to worsen matters.

The apparent rift between Van Nistelrooy and Pellegrini is a particularly recurring rumour. The Dutchman’s return to Spain has so far been a flop and it appears as though the summer’s marquee signing has been relegated to the bottom of the manager’s pecking order. Considering Baptista’s long, injury-induced absence and Salomón Rondón’s awful finishing, the decision to so unceremoniously drop Ruud may seem harsh, but there is a theory that one of the main reasons for signing him in the first place was to attract other big names, and not to rely on him on the pitch as much.

Surely Al Thani’s patience with how his giant subutteo set is doing is wearing thin and one would imagine that, with the dawn of the second half of the season upon us, Pellegrini’s tenure at the club will depend on how well or badly the next four months go. For his sake things would want to pick up. And quickly.