I don't want us to go and blow what we've done over the course of 24 games in the remaining 14 matches
The Armeros boss spoke to the press to preview tomorrow's derby clash at Anoeta
Speaking today in his pre-match press conference, José Luis Mendilibar expressed his desire for his Eibar side not to go and undo "what we've done in the previous 24 games" in the remaining 14 La Liga fixtures.
In his preview of tomorrow's derby at Anoeta against Real Sociedad, Mendilibar revealed that the visitors will be without the suspended Ander Capa, whilst Fran Rico is carrying a knock to his knee which also rules him out. Meanwhile, Asier Riesgo, Kike García and Nano Mesa are all still sidelined through injury.
The squad list, which features two players from the club's feeder team, CD Vitoria, is as follows: Yoel, Markel Areitio, Arbilla, Dos Santos, Ramis, Lejeune, Gálvez, Luna, Dani García, Escalante, Adrián, Cristian Rivera, Pedro León, Inui, Bebé, Rubén Peña, Sergi Enrich and Josué Dorrio.
Mendilibar commented that, "Both of us are performing well. The fact that this game comes three days after our last one means that we go into it a bit short. We put a great deal of effort in and it's difficult to recover, but the team is mentally in a good place and that's the most important thing".
In terms of his side's targets, the Eibar boss declared that, "We're just focusing on the fact that we're very well placed in the league and that we've got a game tomorrow. There's no time to go thinking any further ahead. I believe that we've secured survival and we now want to go on and finish amongst the top 10. I don't want to have to be looking at the bottom half of the table at all. We're having a very good season and I don't want us to go and blow what we've done over the course of these 24 games in the remaining 14 matches. That's my main aim. If things work out well for us and we're in with a chance of doing something else, all the better".
"We're in a very good place in terms of our morale, I don't think we could be any better off in that regard. The players come into training with a smile on their faces and that's the most important thing. If you're happy coming into work, you end up doing a better job. I don't want to start dreaming and prefer to keep my feet on the ground. We believe that we can win everywhere we go. That's the attitude with which we went to Sevilla, although they then went and put two past us. We're continuing on in the same vein and we head to San Sebastián tomorrow believing that we've got a chance of winning the game".
When quizzed about tomorrow's encounter, the Armeros boss suggested that, "If they play their game we'll end up chasing them around. If we put them under decent pressure, they'll struggle".
"It'll be very important that we have the ball in their half. That's what we'll both be looking to do, although in different ways. La Real will try to link up more and play out from the back, whilst we'll try to press, play less passes and go more direct. Whichever side manages to spend more time in the opposition's half will have an advantage, which isn't necessarily to say that they'll end up winning the game, but they'll certainly have a better chance of doing so".
In reference to the season that the San Sebastián outfit are having, Mendilibar stressed that he was surprised that throughout virtually all of the first half of the campaign, La Real showed "consistency" in terms of their playing style and that they managed to win games "despite not playing well".
"Their budget suggests that they should be fighting to be up there. In terms of budgets, La Real's is bigger than ours and they should be finishing higher than us. However, not everything comes down to the budget and finances, for example, Sevilla are going all the way with Barça and Real Madrid. We're unsure whether we will be able to remain up there until the end of the season, just in the same way that there are also question marks as to whether Sevilla will stick the pace until the end of the campaign".
When asked about the fact that the Guipúzcoa province, which is the smallest in Spain, has two sides currently amongst La Liga's top seven, he stated that this goes to show that, "When things aren't done properly in some places, that draws attention to the places where they are".