Malaga CF suffer heavy defeat to Las Palmas in first game at La Rosaleda this season

The Blue and Whites were a tactical mess, with no depth and offering very little as they were humiliated by the well-rehearsed team from the Canaries

SERGIO CORTÉS

Tuesday, 23 August 2022, 10:04

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Malaga suffered a heavy, 4-0 defeat on Monday night to Las Palmas in what was the Blue and Whites' first game back at La Rosaleda. It was the Andalusians second defeat in as many games, as they offered very little in all areas of the pitch and their performance was nothing short of a tactical disaster.

Head coach Pablo Guede appeared to learn from his mistake against Burgos in the opening game of the season. He dropped the three-man defence due to the ease with which teams could dominate Malaga and reverted back to a 4-2-2 diamond formation.

The Argentinian also made five changes to the starting eleven, as players such as Escassi, Juanfran or Javi Jiménez did not impress.

Midfield clutter

Despite the tactical changes, Guede wasn't able to hit the mark. Las Palmas, however, played wherever they wanted, with the visitors having several chances until they found the opening goal on the brink of half-time as Malaga could not deal with a lightning-fast counterattack.

The Blue and Whites offered next to nothing both in attack and in midfield, with Guede's tactical choices to blame.

The team's problems were threefold: their capability to win balls on the pitch was non-existent, the lack of wingers meant that the midfield was overrun, and several players weren't sticking to their roles as they tried to compensate for their errors.

Comfortable Canarians

As Malaga went into the break a goal down, Guede decided to make some much-needed changes. He brought on Fran Sol, an out-and-out striker, to pair with Rubén Castro in attack and relieve the pressure in the midfield area.

The Blue and Whites had the chance to bring the score level, but Las Palmas doubled their lead almost immediately by exploiting their hosts' left wing.

Luis Muñoz made the rookie error of allowing a long ball to bounce, which meant it arrived at the feet of the Las Palmas player, who simply crossed the ball to his teammate to slot into the back of the net.

Despite making further changes and playing with three strikers, Guede remained stubborn and did not change the team's shape. Las Palmas punished Malaga's broken defence for a third goal and then the fourth came with five minutes to go.

Malaga will next play against Mirandés away from home on Saturday 27 August at 7.30pm, as they continue searching for their first points of the season.

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