Eibar are the smallest team in LaLiga and had the smallest budget for the 2017/18 season, but they once again overachieved and they finished in ninth place, their highest ever LaLiga finish.
Their season can more or less be split into four parts. They started off very poorly as they struggled to cope with a series of early injuries, and with some tough early fixtures, and they were just one place above the relegation zone after 12 weeks of action.
All of a sudden, though, they embarked on an impressive run when they had some players back and a slightly easier run of fixtures. They took 19 points from a possible 21 between November and January and were the in-form team in all of Europe. They then suffered another slump for similar reasons as before, before finishing the season strongly with 11 points from their final six games.
Although some fans will be disappointed that Eibar couldn’t keep up their form enough to seriously challenge for a Europa League place, this was still a good season for them considering the overall strength of their squad.
While they are set to lose important players like Ander Capa, Dani Garcia and Takashi Inui, Eibar have been here before and their sporting director Fran Garagarza has shown that he can always adequately replace the players that move on to bigger clubs every summer.
On top of that, Eibar have confirmed that coach Jose Luis Mendilibar will stay for another season, so there’s no reason why Eibar shouldn’t hope for another top-half finish next year.
