Jagoba Arrasate spoke at a press conference on Tuesday ahead of the matchday 38 clash with Rayo Vallecano this Saturday 24 May, 21:00 at the Estadio de Vallecas.
On the week: "First of all what we have to do is accept reality. There's a period where, well, normally when we have a defeat it lasts 24 hours, 48. This one lasted longer because of all that it meant, it's like: we've been in those positions for a large part of the season and the other day, when we lost, we said goodbye to that dream. It's hard to accept it, but the first thing is to accept it. Once you accept it, you are a bit calmer, you analyse why and, from there, you try to prepare the best way possible for tomorrow's game. I understand that for people we're not playing for anything, but for us it's a way of finishing the season well, a way of finishing the season in the top ten, which we also value. Then, we don't like to lose: we've just come from a very tough defeat at the Bernabéu, from a very tough defeat at home in front of our own fans and tomorrow we want to finish with a good game and some joy."
On last game of the season: "The reality is that we've trained normally, with the same days of work and I haven't noticed anything. The planning is the same: video sessions, talking about the rival, about us. Tomorrow at the end of the game, well, we'll say goodbye, we'll hug each other, we'll get together but this week there hasn't been any of that."
On the season: "It's difficult to make an analysis, and it's difficult when there's still one game left. I think we still have a chance to get to 50 points, a chance to finish in the top 10. I think it's important, Andy has stressed it many times too, the famous concept of the “Top 10”, I think it's important. But it's also clear that now it's not enough for us. It's not enough for us because we've been in certain positions all season, and we've fallen out of those positions. Well, if we finish in the top 10, in a month or two, when I go to Mallorca's history, it will be classified as a good season: being in the top 10 in the First Division. But, right now the feeling is not that".
On future objectives: "As I said before, let's see where we stand. If we finish in the top 10, it has to be a good result, even if we feel like we're all angry right now. Of course, we have a lot of homework to do in the summer: the team had a great first half of the season and a bad second half, so we have to know why. Because the players have been the same, the coach has been the same, but the performance has not. So that's where we have to put the focus for next year, because we have to start again at the top of our game. That's why I also said that now, in that “must”, is to analyse, to have a good pre-season, to have a good market and, from there, to get us all excited again to start a new season in LaLiga."
On a personal level: "It's been a hard blow, I'm the first one who was looking forward to it, knowing that the challenge was complicated, but I was very excited. And when you run out of options it's like 'poof', you fall and you have no consolation, you don't want to listen to anyone. But well, I'm also part of it, for better or for worse, then. Right now, as we are all left with the latter, me too, we are left with the bad. Well, it's a little hard to digest the fact that I haven't been able to turn around, in this second round, a situation that seemed to be going downhill. That's my must, my work for the summer."
On rotations: "They don't know the team because we haven't given it, we'll give it tomorrow, so I'm not going to say here who will play and who won't. But it's going to be a competitive team. But it's going to be a competitive team, we want to win and we're going to start those who I think are better for tomorrow's game, looking at the context of tomorrow's game."
On the last game: "I want Osasuna to do well, and they are doing well. I want Iñigo Pérez to do well, and he's doing well. But above all I want Real Club Deportivo Mallorca to do well. For me it is very important, from 10 to 11 there is a big difference and from 10 to 12 as well. And I'm not talking about economic terms, I'm talking about my own and as a group: we want to finish on the left side of the table. We want to finish on the left, and we want to finish with joy and with a good game. For me that's above all else, and then Osasuna gets into Europe? Well, I'll congratulate them and I'll be happy. I think that after 38 games, whoever achieves the objective will be fair, and whoever doesn't achieve it will be unlucky."
On the market: "I think it is also important to make a good market. And to make a good market is to detect what we need and to strengthen the squad. But I say this in a natural way, not in a way that this is the solution to everything, of course this is not the solution. It is part of the solution, just like recognising mistakes, analysing and correcting them, having a good pre-season. There are many things, but I think the market is also important. We don't have to look back now to the winter or summer market, whatever it is, we have it in our minds and we have to learn from everything. But, above all, we have to look at the present and the future."
The 'wound' of the secon half of season: "When you talk about a 'wound', I'm not one to put a band-aid on it either. I prefer hydrogen peroxide, to open it up and see what's there to be able to diagnose it first, and then be able to take action. It is clear that we have been bad in the second half of the season, and if we have been bad, the footballing issue is important, but there are many other things. When you talk about management, you also blame yourself for things you could have done better. In a dressing room, in the end the coach is the boss, then there are the captains, then others who have more weight, others less... in the end everything is important. And in today's football, which depends on details, you have to take care of all the details. When you make a first lap, when there is a change, when you think everything is going well; in the end, sometimes what happens happens happens. So, it has to be a learning experience for me and for the group, so that it doesn't happen again next year."
On team management: "I have a way of managing or directing, which is from the left hand, from pedagogy. That doesn't mean that at some point I haven't shouted, I have shouted more than I would have liked, but that's fine. That's more about what each person is like. We didn't talk about this when we had 30 points, and when we had 17 in the second round, we talk about this and many other things. We have to accept it, don't we? Because winning saves all the debates, and when you don't win, all the debates come to the surface. It's something we have to take on board and improve too, of course."
On squad needs: "When we get together with the sporting management, we don't just talk about the market or the players. We talk about the season on a day-to-day basis, we listen to their opinion. We try to find solutions together and go in the same direction to have a better team next year. We will give clues as to what we are missing."
On Rayo: "It's a signature team. A team that has those hallmarks of the coach's identity. It's a humble but very ambitious team, that defends forwards, that goes for the games, is a dynamic team that will make things very difficult for us. They are having a great season."
On the next market: "We know the squad much better now than when we arrived. We know what we want and based on that we will try to bring in those players that will improve us. We have to give the market time."
On Robert Navarro: "He had a very important injury. He has done a great job, he is a great professional, I have no complaints. He's been training with the group for 2/3 weeks, but when it comes to striking he feels a brake. He can do almost everything, but he can't hit comfortably. It's complicated, he's done his best and it's a shame."
