La Liga: Mallorca vs Real Sociedad, Laudrup Hopes to Improve Form
Read Sociedad are travelling to Iberostar Estadi to take on Mallorca in the weekend fixture of La Liga as they hope to end their bad form and return to the winning ways. This comes after the club’s campaign has witnessed three matches
without a win. However, the hosts have also had a poor run of form and will be looking to improve things after a particularly disappointing mid week away fixture.
Mallorca are at the bottom half of the table at 16th place and suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat at the hands of Athletico Bilbao in midweek. Michael Laudrup the Mallorca boss revealed that he was hoping that
he was relying on his side’s home form to deliver them a respectable result today. The home crowd has previously seen their club beat Osasuna and draw with the mighty Real Madrid.
The Mallorca boss told reporters in a pre match conference in reference to the defeat, “Whether it's 2-0 or 3-0 does not change anything. It is obvious that we still have work to do away from home but this has just begun. Now, we are all
angry, but we start again on Thursday and have to think that we have another big game at home against Real Sociedad.”
He added, “When you lose away you need to recover at home and in this sense I hope we maintain the same line of play of the two previous (home) games.” Laudrup said. “We are playing at home and we need to take advantage of it, we have
the obligation to win and we have the obligation to take the initiative and go out looking for the victory from the start.”
However, he was aware that the visitors would not be doing his side any favours, he added, “They are a strong opponent, who work very hard, a team who arrive with the success of having won a lot of games in the Segunda Division and La
Liga.” Laudrup replaced Gregorio Manzano over the summer and will be hoping to do much better than his predecessor and understands that early wins are essential.
However, Real Sociedad have been struggling over the past two weeks and have not earned any points over that period. Sociedad coach Martin Lasarte refused to accept that defeats to Madrid and Osasuna were disasters and said he hoped his
side would claim all three points in today’s away match. He said,
“This game can be a good opportunity for us to restore our image. We have to work hard and maintain our concentration to show what this team is capable of.”
Possible Starting XI
RCD Mallorca: Aouate, Garcia Marti, Ramis, Nunes, Edson,Castro, Marti, de Guzman, Nsue, Cavenaghi, Victor.
Substitues: G. Lux, E. Corrales, P. Cendrós, Rubén, João Victor, P. Webó, M. Pereira.
Real Sociedad: Bravo, De la Balla, Gonzalez, Ansotegi, Matinez, Rivas, Aranburu, Griezmann, Zurutuza, Prieto, Tamudo.
Substitutes: M. Labaka, E. Zubikarai, G. Elustondo, Markel, J. Llorente, B. Viguera, F. Sutil.
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