Chaos, monotony and late stability: A look at Málaga CF’s disastrous campaign from a tactical perspective – scout report

A decade ago, Málaga CF were riding high on a wave of optimism and excitement. Under the guidance of Manuel Pellegrini, the club achieved a fourth-place finish in La Liga and qualified for the Champions League for the first time in history. They went on to reach the quarter-finals of the competition, narrowly losing out to eventual finalists Borussia Dortmund. Málaga’s European campaign featured some impressive performances including a victory over A.C. Milan in the group stage. 

In the ten years since Málaga’s historic European run, the club has experienced several ups and downs. In the 2017/18 season, they were relegated to the second tier of Spanish football after finishing 20th in La Liga.

Since then, Málaga has been playing in the Segunda Division, with their best finish being third place in the 2018/19 season, narrowly missing out on a playoff spot for promotion. More recently, Málaga CF has struggled to make progress as they repeatedly find themselves sliding down the Segunda Division table. Last season, they only just avoided dropping into the third tier, finishing two points above the relegation zone.

The current campaign has been nothing short of disastrous for Málaga, they have struggled all season and find themselves in the relegation zone, eight points from safety. There has been the typical managerial merry-go-round which we have become accustomed to with teams fighting for survival. 

Until 20th September, Argentine Pablo Guede was in charge, but the club dismissed him due to a poor start to the season. Pepe Mel took over, but he was unable to turn their fortunes around and the club sacked him at the end of January. Since then, former Málaga player Sergio Pellicer has been leading the team. While he initially struggled to make an impact, there have been a few good results more recently, although it appears to be too little too late for a revival as the season comes to a close.

This tactical analysis will take the form of a scout report where we will analyse what has been going wrong for Málaga this season. We will take a look at what tactics the managers have been using and why they have failed to turn things around at the Andalusian club.

Data analysis and most used formations

The best place for us to start with this analysis is to take a look at how Málaga compare to their fellow Segunda Division teams. The thing that stands out like a sore thumb from the pizza chart above is that there are clearly issues at both ends of the pitch. We can see that Málaga rank incredibly low in terms of xG per 90 which suggests they are not creating many chances. However, a minor source of relief for this team could be that they are performing considerably higher in terms of goals per 90.

Additionally, we can see that this Málaga side doesn’t see copious amounts of possession during their games but certainly more than some Segunda Division teams. They rank reasonably high in terms of recoveries per 90 and PPDA which suggests there are some defensive efforts by way of pressing going on but it would appear they are ineffectual at best.