Mendilibar: Our aim is to finish as high up as possible
The Armeros' boss has named all 20 available members of his squad for the visit of Espanyol
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow's meeting with Espanyol at Ipurua (13:00 kick-off), SD Eibar coach, José Luis Mendilibar, declared that the "clear aim" for the remainder of the campaign is "to finish as high up as possible".
Mendilibar has named all 20 available members of his squad, which is the whole group barring Fran Rico and Nano Mesa.
"It would make me a bad coach if I allowed people to ease off at this stage. If you find yourself in mid-table, given the way things are nowadays with how the money is distributed, you've always got a clear aim in mind: the higher you finish, the more money the club receives. As to whether we're bothered about whether we finish in eighth or 10th because there's nothing at stake now, we should be bothered about it because the club gets more money. Right now, my job is perhaps not so much concerned with the tactical or technical side of things, but rather to get the players to understand that we have to keep competing in these final two months until the end of the season".
The Eibar coach underlined that the Armeros simply won't win games, "if we don't run, battle and go up through the gears to be able to get the goals". "If you ease off a gear, although you might be performing well enough, it's difficult to score against anyone".
"We face a fixture against a direct rival for a place amongst the top 10. They're a point behind us and we'll have to leave our mark on the game and we'll then see whether that's enough to win it or not. For me, leaving something in reserve is not the right way of going about things".
In terms of Quique Sánchez Flores' side, the Eibar manager stressed that they're a "very direct" team that "try to keep you at bay and then break on the counter".
"They don't mess around or try to be fancy or overplay in their own half. When they lose possession, they quickly get back in position and are ready to defend. They don't press overly aggressively, but they're very quick at getting back and into position. If we manage to break quickly and make inroads into their area and play balls into the box, we'll be in with a chance of winning. However, if we allow them the time to set themselves up in defence, it'll be far tougher for us, we'll become tired and will get frustrated and that'll see them have a better chance of winning than what we have".
When quizzed about the reverse fixture, which ended in a 3-3 stalemate after Eibar had led 3-0 at the break, Mendilibar insisted that, "that's in the past now", before adding that "we're a side that's capable of taking a three-goal lead into half-time, but at the same time we can also go and then concede three goals after that".
"I prefer for the team to give me that sort of joy and I like my sides to have the ability to attack and pose a threat. It was an odd game. After that match, they started to improve and pick up results. Since that day, they've played everyone in the league once and are doing very well".