Story of the season

It was far from an easy season in La Liga for Javier Aguirre and company, who has moved on, and been replaced by Jagoba Arrasate. Part of you wonders if they were victims of being so comfortable last year.

With no Kang-In Lee supplying Vedat Muriqi, the Kosovan struggled to find the net as often, and his partnership with Cyle Larin failed to click, in a tough season for the latter. Sergi Darder didn’t slot in as expected either, and ended up not being a certain starter for much of the season as a result.

That sort of defined Mallorca’s struggles, who were not as sure of themselves in terms of what they were seeking this season. It led to a significant spike trade off, with Mallorca drawing eight more games, despite scoring just four fewer and conceding just three more.

Their Copa del Rey run is enough to disregard their La Liga form to a degree though, having secured safety. Going all the way to penalties with Athletic Club, having done a job on their Basque rivals in the semi-finals, was a mammoth achievement. So close to glory, Aguirre gave Los Bermellones plenty to shout about.

Grade Explanation

That Copa run was magical, and the sight of Aguirre announcing penalty takers to the cheers of his squad, before local boy Sergi Darder converted the winning penalty in the semi-final will live on forever. Had they won the Copa, this clearly would’ve been an A, and the same goes had they been a little more comfortable.

It’s true that in the league, Mallorca did not get as much out of their resources as you would like. Darder, Muriqi and Larin were supposed to be the faces of their attack, and yet none reached expectations this season. A good season still, if an odd one.

Standout moment: Copa del Rey semi-final win over Real Sociedad – an iconic moment.

Key player: Dani Rodriguez – Mr. Consistent. Only Giovanni Gonzalez and Predrag Rajkovic racked up more minutes, and his tireless work in the middle of the pitch came with nine goal contributions in total.

Surprise of the season: Abdon Prats – Always been slightly disregarded as an actual goalscorer, but leading the team for goals, and with some lovely goals too, he had his best season of his career at 31.

Glass half full

Jagoba Arrasate has demonstrated his quality at Osasuna over the last six years, and certainly Mallorca and Osasuna are in similar places. The islanders perhaps have a touch more quality in the final third, so it will be interesting to see how he does with that.

There’s a solid base, a strong squad, and a good manager, there’s no reason to expect anything other than a good season. If he can get more out of Darder and Larin, the ceiling rises too.

Glass half empty

Aguirre did a really good job overall. Despite the Darder-Larin conversation, he got a lot out of Muriqi, Toni Raillo, Martin Valjent, Rodriguez, Pablo Maffeo and more. The danger is always if things aren’t going right in reasonable time after a well-liked manager departs, then comparisons don’t take long to arrive either for players or press.

The post Season in review: RCD Mallorca come within touching distance of history – and the journey was still great appeared first on Football España.

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