International News - Another defeat for Valladolid

Usually the first game under a new manager sees a bright turn-around for a least a couple of games as players seek to impress the new man. Even Glenn Roeder has achieved that.

Down in historic Spain, however, over there in the flatlands of Valladolid where the mists linger far too long and games in January are usually enjoyed with a bonfire to keep the spectators warm ( and entertained, as because of the mist it's impossible to see more that a third of the pitch) things are always done differently.

A trip down to sunny Malaga on the Costa del Sol obviously served to unsettle rather than calm the away team as they celebrated with a 2-1 defeat, once again after having enjoyed, if that is the right word, most of the possession.

The 'Departamento de Comunicación', on the official website informs us that despite the dawning of the Merino Era 'the team failed to response to treatment'. Once again they conceded an early goal in the 4th minute despite signing 2 new defenders in the January sales, let in another goal just before the interval and despite pulling one back in the second half suffered a 4 consecutive defeat dropping down to 10th in the table. All hope of promotion to the Premier here seems dashed for another year as they are now 10 points adrift of 3rd place.

The picture above shows the second goal going in and a defence in more disarray I don't think I've ever seen. The goal looks off-side except for the one defender in the net who was presumably playing the 4 attackers onside when the goal went in. Lets hope he's on the bench next week.

The good news is that long queues had been seen at the stadium, not to buy tickets for the next home game but for the friendly on Wednesday between Spain and Costa de Marfil (Ivory Coast). Obviously there's no Valladolid players in the squad but the chance to see decent football seems to have inspired them to stand in the freezing cold for however long it takes. And believe me one thing the Spanish don't like doing is queueing.

Meanwhile the daily newspaper 'ABC' still prints a small form to fill in and send off offering a place in the bi-weekly raffle. The 5 lucky winners drawn from the hat are sent a ticket for the next home game against Real Madrid 'B' next Sunday. Its rumoured that all the other unlucky entrants receive 2 tickets.