Real Mallorca manager Javier Aguirre feels his side are not getting the just rewards for their play currently, as they balance precariously above the relegation zone. Mallorca are one of four teams with one win or less so far this season, and are just a point above Celta Vigo. To make matters worse, their star striker Vedat Muriqi looks as if he will be out until 2024 too.
“We have played 50 games in which we have never been in the relegation zone. Last year good things were done with players reaching their maximum performance,” Aguirre told Marca.
“This season, as Javier Aguirre, I have not yet found a good team performance, which is why we have a poor harvest of points, but not of in terms of play. As for the play, I’m not so dissatisfied, because we do things well, but then a shot, a mistake or a distraction condemns us. You start adding it up and you could have three or four more points… but you don’t have them.”
In the absence of Muriqi, Candian striker and star signing Cyle Larin is yet to find his scoring touch for Los Bermellones, and still hasn’t scored since his €8.5m move.
“It is an important point because the player has noticed something is wrong. I spoke with Larin and he told me that he had not been under so much pressure before. In Switzerland he was calmer, while in Valladolid he arrived as a winter reinforcement without much pressure. Here he has been the star signing and a lot of expectation was generated around him. And due to different circumstances, he is not finding the goal. In terms of the rest, he fights, he fights… and he is having opportunities. Now, without Muriqi, he will play.”
Given the relatively poor start of those sides around them, Aguirre was also asked if this might not be an easier season to survive in.
“The optical illusion of not seeing yourself out of the relegation zone is a point in your favour because you say ‘I am not in the drop zone’, although it is true that few points have been gathered. We are one of five or six teams that are a game, game and a half away (from the relegation zone). I do think that this year for some reason, like Girona, this makes permanence a bit cheaper, but I can’t trust that. We have to play better, win and get into a more comfortable zone.”
