Jose Luis Mendilibar acknowledged Osasuna’s defeat at home to Granada is ‘a very bad start to the season’, and has blamed a poor first half performance.
Los Rojillos lost 2-1 at home to last season’s relegation rivals in this Week 1 opener, thanks to first half goals from Youssef El-Arabi and Hassan Yebda proving too much, despite Francisco Punal’s goal for the home side in the second half.
“It is a very bad start to the season. You always hope to win and to start calmer,” Mendilibar told reporters afterwards.
“I hope that this will help us and that we will see a contrast between this time and the next.
“It was an unsatisfactory first half from us. Neither fish nor fowl. Granada had not done enough for 0-2, but they have managed it.
“Our mood changed in the second half, with the intensity and intent, but it is difficult to come back from that.
“We have to compete better from the start. They began playing better and we were always behind. We forced a lot in the second half and we have ended up tired, but if we were more courageous then we could have run less.”
